MANUAL 

FOR 

THEME REVISION 

W. F. BRYAN 
GEORGE B. DENTON 





















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MANUAL 

FOR 

THEME REVISION 



Compiled by 

W. F. BRYAN, Ph.D. 

|| 

Associate Professor of English 
Northwestern University 


AND 


GEORGE B. DENTON, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor of English 
Northwestern University Dental School 



Copyright 1020 

by 

W. F. BRYAN 


SClje OloUv-giati! ^3rv©e 

GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY 
MENASHA, WISCONSIN 


>EP 20 1920 

©Cl. A 5 76476 

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PREFACE 


T HIS Manual , as its name implies, is a handbook of direc¬ 
tions for the preparation and even more for the revision of 
themes. Except possibly in the treatment of sentence punc¬ 
tuation and in the notation and arrangement of material, it 
makes no claim to novelty or originality. An attempt is made to 
classify the directions for sentence punctuation not mechanically 
but logically. The notation, together with the arrangement of 
material, is designed to aid the instructor in referring readily to 
any direction, general or particular, which he may wish his student 
to apply, and to give the student the suggestions and illustrations 
that will enable him to correct his particular errors and to correct 
them intelligently. The symbols usually employed in the correction 
of themes—“If,” “S. U.,” “Cap.,” “Gr.,” and so on—tell the student 
too much or too little. Their use by the instructor either allows 
the student to make corrections mechanically without knowing just 
what he is correcting or why, or does not give him information suf¬ 
ficiently definite to enable him to recognize and correct his particular 
errors. In this Manual the material is arranged and notated with 
the intent to provide either for exact direction to a specific correction 
or suggestion for improvement, or for broader reference to a principle 
or a general topic that covers a number of related particulars. The 
largest divisions of the entire subject, such as the sections on Punctua¬ 
tion, the Whole Composition, the Paragraph, are marked by capital 
letters; the principal subdivisions, those, for example, which treat of 
Unity, Coherence and Emphasis in the sentence, are designated by 
100’s; the sub-sections, such as those on Parallel Structure, the 
Placing of Parts, Connectives, and Reference Words under Sentence 
Coherence, are designated by 10’s; and the individual suggestions by 
units. For example, if the sentence structure of a theme is faulty 
and the instructor wishes to direct the student to the whole subject 
of sentence structure, he places G in the margin; if he wishes to limit 
the review to coherence in the sentence, he uses G200; if he wishes 
to limit the review further to the coherent arrangement of parts of 
the sentence, he uses G230; if he wishes to refer to such a particular 
error as the misplacing of a modifier, he uses G231. The method of 
correction is by no means so complicated as this account may make 
it appear. Further, it has been successfully employed for a number 
of years. 

W. F. BRYAN. 

Evanston, Illinois, September, 1917, 

August, 1920. 





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TABLE OF CONTENTS 


A GENERAL DIRECTIONS.12 


A10 PREPARATION OF THEMES.. 12 

H. general (a) legibility, (b) theme paper, (c) one side, (d) black ink; 12. 
margins; 13. unfilled lines; 14. numbering pages; 15. endorsement; 16. not 
folded or rolled, clips; 17. verse; 18. rejection. 

A20 CORRECTION OF THEMES..12 

21. marginal numbers; 22. red ink corrections; 23. consult instructor, mar¬ 
ginal notes; 24. misspelling; 25. striking out, unnecessary word; 26. caret, 
omission of necessary word; 27(a). closing up, (b) spacing; 28. transposition; 
29. all corrections to be carefully made, penalty. 

A30 REWRITING OF THEMES......13 

31. only upon request; 32. “Rewritten” on new version; 33. original endorse¬ 
ment; 34. return original theme. 

A40 TITLES.... .......13 

41. appropriate; 42. brief, clear, and suggestive; 43. avoid A Description of 
etc.; 44. phrase rather than clause; 45. theme independent of title; 46. capi¬ 
talization; 47. underscoring; 48. position. 

B MATTERS OF FORM.14 


BIO 


B39 

B40 


c 

C100 

Clio 

C120 

C130 


CAPITALIZATION. 14 

B20. Initial capital for: 21. sentence; 22. verse; 23. direct quotation; 24. no 
capital for (a) quotation incorporated into sentence, (b) quotation resumed 
after interruption; 25. proper name; 26. names once proper but no longer 
capitalized; 27. seasons and points of compass. B30. Capitals for specific 
names; 31. personal titles; 32. noun or adjective as part of proper name; 33. 
titles of books, etc.; 34. specific divisions, organizations, classes, subjects, etc.; 
35. names of Deity; 36. particular term; 37. I and 0; 38. 0 and Oh. 

SUPERFLUOUS CAPITALIZATION.15 

NUMBERS. i5 

B50. In general written out. B60. Arabic numerals for: 61. numbers longer 

than two words; 62. round numbers written out; 63. dollars and cents; 64. 
cardinal numbers of numbered objects. B70. Number at head of sentence. 
B80. Consistency in usage. 

PUNCTUATION. 16 


SENTENCE PUNCTUATION. lb 

Terminal Punctuation. 1® 

111. declarative; 112. interrogative; 113. exclamatory; 114. unfinished. 

Interior Punctuation.1^ 

17 

Continuative .. 

131. long quotation; 132. short quotation; 133. formal particularization; 
134. that is; 135. informal particularization; 136. formal instance or exam¬ 
ple* 137. informal instance or example; 138. that is parenthetically; 139. 
such as; 141. after for example , etc.; 142. series summarized. 


5 
















C150 Separative .18 

C160 Parenthesis in General .18 


161. long or abrupt parenthesis proper; 162. shorter, less abrupt parenthe¬ 
sis; 163. non-restrictive modifiers, particularly participle or relative; 164. 
restrictive modifiers, particularly participle or relative; 165. appositives; 
166. absolute construction; 167. direct address; 168. yes, no, etc.; 169. fol¬ 
lowing (1) titles, (2) place name, (3) year in date; 171. (a) long, loosely 
related principal and dependent clauses, (b) closely related principal and 
dependent clauses; 172. transposed element; 173. changed construction; 
174. editorial interpolation. 

C180 Co-ordination .20 

181. independent clauses, no conjunction; 182. so, then, etc.; 183. independ¬ 
ent clauses with conjunction (1) long, (2) moderate, (3) short; 184. com¬ 
pound predicate (1) long, (2) short; 185, series introduced or summarized; 
186. series of simple elements; 187. to emphasize distinctness. 

C190 Equivocalness .21 

191. because, as, if clauses; 192. conjunction or adverb, for, but, above, 
below, etc., which may be mistaken for preposition; 193. complex elements 
themselves punctuated by commas; 194. omissions; 195. to make meaning 
apparent; 196. closely related elements not separated. 


C199 PLACE OF MARKS OF PUNCTUATION..23 

C200 QUOTATION.23 


C210. Punctuation to set off verb of saying; 211. verb of saying precedes (a) 
long, (b) short quotation; 212. verb of saying follows or is interpolated; 213. 
fragmentary quotation not set off. C220. Quotation marks; 221. simple 
direct quotation; 222. interrupted quotation; 223. quotation within quota¬ 
tion; 224. English practice; 225. more than one paragraph or stanza; 226. 
repeated only to indicate new speaker. C230. Other devices: 231. capitali¬ 
zation; 232. indention of long quotation. C240. Indirect quotation. 

C300 WORD PUNCTUATION.24 

C301. Period for (a) abbreviation, (b) symbol in notation. C302. Exclama¬ 
tion; 303. unemotional interjection. C304. Quotation marks for (a) slang, 
(b) peculiar uses, (c) titles of articles, etc. C305. Hyphen in compound 
words; 306. hyphen in divided words; 307. division of words. C310. Apostro¬ 
phe: 311. before s of possessives; 312. after s; 313. with plurals of letters and 
symbols; 314. in contractions; 315. its and it’s and possessives of pronouns 
generally. C320 Italicization; 321. for emphasis; 322. use sparingly; 323. (a) 
foreign words, (b) titles of books, etc., (c) words, symbols, (d) names of vessels. 


C329 SUPERFLUOUS PUNCTUATION.26 

SPECIMEN THEMES AND OUTLINES.26 


Complete Statement of Outline of A Successful System of Student Government .26 

Specimen Theme, A Successful System of Student Government .27 

Topical Outline of The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts .29 

Complete Statement Outline of The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts ... .30 

Specimen Theme, The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts .30 

Specimen Theme, Industrial Efficiency .32 

D THE OUTLINE.32 


Dl. Purpose of an outline. D2. Definition of Topical and of Complete State¬ 
ment Outline. 


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DIO THE STRUCTURE OF OUTLINES.33 

11. outline to indicate both (a) structure and (b) content of theme; 12. not 
too many main heads; 13. all essential divisions but not ultimate details; 14. 
single subdivision of heading; 15. consistent principle of division; 16. headings 
to indicate content not form or function; 17. (a) headings to cover all points 
ranked under them, (b) headings of same rank mutually exclusive; .18. sub¬ 
ordinate point to be placed under proper heading; 19. similar form for headings 
of parallel stages; 21. essence of introductory or concluding section to be 
written out; 22. outline and theme to correspond. 

D30 NOTATION AND INDENTION OF OUTLINES. ..35 

31. system of notation; 32. system of indention (a) indention of headings and 
points, (b) headings not to project at left, (c) heads of same rank to be kept 
in vertical line. 

D40 PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION OF OUTLINES.35 

41. topical outlines (a) capitalization, (b) punctuation; 42. complete statement 
outlines. 

D50 SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR COMPLETE STATEMENT OUTLINE. .36 

51. distinctive characteristic; 52. topic clauses as heads of main divisions; 
53. (a) series of successive headings to make complete sentence, (b) grammat¬ 
ical relations of headings and points; 54. relations of main divisions to each 
other and to whole subject to be apparent. 

E THE WHOLE COMPOSITION.36 

E100 UNITY.36 

E110. Inclusion of necessary material: 111. missing stage; 112. too slightly 
developed stage. El20. Exclusion of improper material: 121. removal of 
extraneous matter. 

E200 COHERENCE.37 

E210 Order .37 

E220. Wrong division: 221. indiscriminate grouping of material; 222. 

excessive division; 223. insufficient division. E230. Illogical arrangement 

remedied by (a) chronological order, (b) general to particular, (c) balance, 


(d) climax. 

E240 Connection ...39 

E250 Point of View.39 

E300 EMPHASIS.40 

E310. Position. E320. Proportion. 

E400 INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION.40 

E410. Introduction: 411. unnecessary introduction; 412. suggestions as to 

introductions. E420. Conclusion: 421. concluding statement necessary; 

422. to be brief; 423. to be an organic part of theme. 

F THE PARAGRAPH.41 

FI. Definition. F2. Topic. 

F10 METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT.42 


11. definition; 12. particulars or details; 13. comparison or contrast; 14. specific 
instance or example; 15. reasons or proof; 16. cause and effect; 17. variety of 
method; 18. single method. 


7 
















F100 

FllO 

F120 


F200 

F210 


F240 


F290 


F299 

F300 

F330 

G 

GlOO 

GllO 


G120 


UNITY 


46 


Indention. 46 

111. too little in paragraph; 112. too much in paragraph; 113. dialogue. 

Logical Unity. 47 

121. too little, inadequate development; 122. too much, extraneous ma¬ 

terial; 123. illustrative paragraphs. 

COHERENCE.49 

Order. 49 

F220. Develop one stage at a time. F230. Develop consistently according 
to some principle of order: 231. narrative order, chronological; 232. descrip¬ 
tive order (a) spatial, (b) chronological; 233. expository order (a) chrono¬ 
logical, (b) general to particular, (c) climax, (d) balance. 

Connection and Transition. 51 

F250. Sentence adjustments: 251. (a) parallel structure, (b) caution; 252. 
(a) repetition, (b) caution; 253. inversion. F260. Connective words and 
phrases: F270. Continuation of thought—; 271. simple addition; 272. 
series; 273. purpose; 274. result; 275. identity or similarity; F280. Change 
of thought—; 281. contrast or opposition; 282. concession; 283. compari¬ 
son; 284. change of time; 285. change of place. 

Careless Violations of Paragraph Coherence. 53 

291. Reference words: 292. ambiguous reference; 293. antecedent to be 
definite substantive; 294. agreement of pronoun and antecedent (cl) each, 
every, etc., (c2) consistent agreement with collective nouns; 295. this, now, 
here, etc. 296. Shift of tense. 297. Shift of point of view. 

CONNECTION AND TRANSITION BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS.55 

(a) summary, (b) repetition, (c) inversion, (d) connective words and phrases, 
(e) transitional sentence, (f) transitional paragraph. 

EMPHASIS.56 

F310. Position, unimportant matter (a) at beginning, (b) at end—statement 
of topic at beginning and restatement at end. F320. Proportion (a) inade¬ 
quate development, (b) excessive development. 

Sentence Length and Variety in the Paragraph. 57 

331. too long sentences; 332. too short sentences; 333. monotonous sentence 
structure. 


THE SENTENCE.58 

UNITY.• /.59 

Grammatical Unity.59 


111. too little (1) infinitive or participial phrase, (2) relative clause, (3) any 
dependent clause, (4) no subject, (5) no predicate; 112. too much (comma 
blunder, so, then, etc.); 113. series of co-ordinate clauses. 

Rhetorical Unity. 62 

G130. Unity of thought; 131. too little; 132. too much (1) incongruous ele¬ 
ments, (2) stringing out details. G140. Unity in structure: 141. failure 
to make main idea stand out by subordinating subordinate ideas; 142. 
illogical subordination of main idea. G143. Relations between unity of 
thought and unity in structure, and between unity in structure and co¬ 
herence. 


8 
















G200 COHERENCE.65 

G210 Sequence.65 

G220 Parallel Structure . ; .65 


221. needless shifts (1) phrase with clause, (2) infinitive with participial 
phrase, (3) word with phrase or clause, (4) principal with dependent clause, 
(5) dependent clauses of different kinds, (6) and which, (7) active with 
passive, (8) change of subject or point of view, (9) change of tense, wrong 
sequence; 222. elements of same kind to be placed together; 223. tagged on 
detail. 

G230 Placing of Parts .67 

231. modifiers; 232. only; 233. restrictive indeed, at least, etc.; 234. dangling 
participles; 235. due and dangling phrases or clauses; 236. separation of 
grammatically connected elements (a) verb and subject or object, (b) parts 
of compound verb, (c) to and infinitive, (d) reference word and antecedent. 

G240 Connectives ..r.. ; .69 

241. co-ordinate for subordinate conjunction; 242. subordinate for co¬ 
ordinate conjunction; 243. and and but; 244. while wrongly used (a) for and 
or but, (b) for though or whereas; 245. both members of correlative pair, such 
as not only — but also; 246. parallelism after either — or, etc.; 247. repetition 
of subordinate conjunctions; 248. conjunction with last member of series. 

G250 Reference Words. 71 

251. ambiguous reference, corrected by (a) direct quotation, (b) repetition 
of antecedent, (c ) the former — the latter; 252. antecedent merely implied; 
253. agreement with antecedent (a) each, every, etc., (b) consistency of 
agreement with collectives, (c) consistency of agreement among collectives, 
pronouns, and verbs; 254. anticipated antecedent; 255. separation from 
antecedent. 

G260 Repetition and Omissions .73 

261. repetition of complex subject by summarizing word; 262. for clearness, 
repetition of (a) prepositions, (b) to with infinitives; 263. for distinctness, 
repetition of (a) articles and possessives, (b) prepositions, (c) to with infini¬ 
tives; 264. incomplete constructions with (a) so, too, etc., (b) demonstrative 
that; 265. omission of verb forms; 266. omission in idiomatic combinations; 
267. omission of that in (a) result, (b) noun clauses. 

G270 Comparisons. 75 

271. (a) exclusion with comparative, (b) inclusion with superlative; 272. 
compare objects of same kind; 273. verb or preposition repeated after than 
or as; 274. incomplete comparisons; 275. mixed comparisons. 

G280 Awkward or Careless Constructions. 76 

281. overlapping constructions; 282. multiplication of negatives; 283. same 
word in two senses; 284. contradictory, ambiguous, incongruous state¬ 
ments, definitions; 285. awkward sentence arrangement. 

G300 EMPHASIS.77 

G310 Sentence Form... 77 

311. main idea in independent clause; 312. active rather than passive voice; 
313. periodic sentence; 314. balanced sentence; 315. climax; 316. caution. 

G320 Position of Parts . \.79 

321. emphatic positions, beginning and end—particularly end; 322. unim¬ 
portant elements not to be given emphatic positions; 323. transposition. 


9 
















G330 

H 

H10 


H20 

H30 

H40 

H50 

J 

JIO 

J20 

J30 

J40 

J50 

J60 


Fullness or Condensation of Expression.80 

331. repetition of important elements; 332. avoid verbiage (a) tautology, 
(b) redundancy. 


DICTION 


80 


GOOD USE.r.81 

11. loose, undiscriminating application (a) anxious for eager, etc., (b) never 
for not, nice, awful, etc., (c) words etymologically related and partial synonyms, 
(d) factor, element, etc.; 12. wrong preposition; 13. (a) archaic, (b) technical, 
(c) bookish words; 14. foreign words; 15. (a) slang, (b) new coinages, (c) vulgar, 
cheap expressions, (d) localisms, provincialisms; 16. abbreviations and con¬ 
tractions; 17. one part of speech for another; 18. colloquialisms; 19. illiterate 


uses. 

Idiomatic Usage .•.83 

21. idiomatic distinctions; 22. as and so; 23. like; 24. (a) nominative abso¬ 
lute, (b) which as adjective, (c) German compounds; 25. a and an. 

Remaining Cautions .84 


31. distinctions between (a) simple and progressive tense forms, (b) simple 
and cumulative or inchoative verbs, (c) collective and common or individual 
nouns, (d) active and passive meanings, (e) abstract and concrete mean¬ 
ings; 32. incongruous figures; 33. consult dictionary. 

EFFECTIVE USE. t .85 

41. precision in degree; 42. verbosity; 43. hackneyed, trite expressions; 44* 
value of specific words; 45. writing down; 46. writing up (a) fine writing, (b) 
poetic, archaic words. 

EUPHONY..87 

51. needless repetition of words or sounds; 52. harsh combinations; 53. suc¬ 
cession of unaccented syllables; 54. metric effects. 


GRAMMAR 


87 


NOUNS AND PRONOUNS 


87 


Number and Kind .87 

21. foreign and irregular plurals; 22. these, those with plural nouns; 23 ‘ 
agreement of pronoun and antecedent, distinction of who, which, that. 

Case.88 

31. possessive with gerund; 32. restricted use of possessive; 33. case form 
of pronoun (a) subject of finite verb, (b) subject of infinitive, (c) object of 
verb or preposition. 

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS.89 

41. distinction between (a) adjective and (b) adverb, (c) most and almost; 

42. comparative and superlative (a) comparative for two, superlative for 
more than two, (b) absolute forms, (c) double comparative, (d) exclusion and 
inclusion, (e) -er, -est and more, most; 43. adverb of degree modifying 
participle. 

VERBS. 90 


Agreement with Subject.90 

61. simple subject; 62. athletics, 'politics, etc.; 63. each, every, etc.; 64. collec¬ 
tive nouns (a) singular, (b) plural; 65. compound subject (a) connected by 


10 


















arid, (b) singular subjects disjoined by or, (c) singular and plural subjects 
disjoined by or; 66. influence of (a) interpolated element, (b) predicate com¬ 
plement; 67. verb precedes subject (a) anticipative it, (b) introductory here 
or there; 68. consistent agreement of verb, pronoun subject, and antecedent. 

J70 Tense Forms .91 

71. principal clause, actual time (a) past, (b) perfect; 72. subordinate 
clause, reckon from principal verb, sequence of tenses; 73. present infinitive 
and present participle; 74. perfect infinitive and perfect participle; 75. con¬ 
sistency of tenses. 

J80 Shall and Will .93 

81. simple statements, mere futurity; 82. simple statements, determination, 

etc.; 83. simple statements, should and would; 84. questions; 85. conditional 
clauses; 86. indirect discourse, principal and dependent clauses having 
different subjects; 87. indirect discourses, principal and dependent clauses 
having same subject. 

J90 Miscellaneous Cautions .94 

91. confusion of (a) transitive and intransitive verbs, (b) weak and strong 
verbs; 92. confusion of past tense and perfect participle of strong verbs; 93. 
use of subjunctive; 94. emphatic forms with do; 95. can and may. 

K LETTERS.94 

K10 THE PARTS OF LETTERS.94 

11. heading; 12. inside address; 13. greeting; 14. body; 15. complimentary 
close; 16. outside address. 

K20 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FORM OF LETTERS.97 

21. business; 22. social. 

L SPELLING.97 


L10 RULES AND CAUTIONS.97 

11. final consonant (a) doubled (b) not doubled before vocalic suffix; 12. (a) 
final e dropped before vocalic suffix, (b) -ce and -ge; 13. final y changed to i 
before suffix; 14. (a) ei and ie, (b) exceptions; 15. difficult suffixes -ite, -ate, etc. 


li 










A. * GENERAL DIRECTIONS 

A10 PREPARATION OF THEMES 

All Themes should be written (a) legibly and carefully, (b) on theme 
paper, (c) on but one side of the sheet, and (d) with black ink. 

A12 There should be no writing in the margins. 

A13 After the end of a sentence, the remainder of the line should not 
be left blank unless the sentence completes a paragraph. 

A14 The pages should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner. 

A15 In the upper left-hand corner of the first page of the theme the 
student should write the section number in Roman numerals, 
his name, the number of the theme, and the date when it is 
due, as follows: 

Section III. 

Ames, Helen C. 

Theme 7; Nov. 11, 1913. 

A16 The sheets should not be folded or rolled, and should be-fastened 
at the top with clips. 

A17 Note.—Verse, whether original or quoted, should be written unmis¬ 

takably as verse. The lines or verses should not be run on 
continuously as in prose, but each should be written on a 
separate line. Original verse should be so written as to indicate 
the metrical scheme, and quoted verse should be arranged as 
in the source of the quotation. 

Example. —His favorite bit of verse was Landor’s single stanza On Death: 

“Death stands above me, whispering low 
I know not what into my ear: 

Of his strange language all I know 
Is, there is not a word of fear.” 

A18 Note.—A theme that fails in any one of these particulars will not 

be accepted. 

A20 CORRECTION OF THEMES 

A21 Numbers placed in the margins refer to the numbered divisions of 
this manual, and indicate the criticisms of the instructor and 
his suggestions for correction and improvement. 

A22 All errors indicated are to be corrected in red ink. 

A23 If a criticism or suggestion is not understood, the instructor should 
be consulted. Marginal explanations and notes to the instruc¬ 
tor are out of place. 

A24 Every word misspelled is to be looked up in a recent and adequate 
dictionary. 

A25 A word wrongly written should not be enclosed within brackets, 
but should be stricken out by a single line drawn through it. 
Example. —It was an awkward awkward situation. 

Note.—In corrections, No. A25 indicates the presence of a word 
or words which should be stricken out as unnecessary. 


12 


A26 If a word or phrase has been omitted, it should be written above 
the line at the place where the omission occurs, and the omission 
should be marked by a caret (a) placed just below the line. 

were 

Example.—They now realized that they a hopelessly lost. 

Note.—In corrections, No. A26 indicates the omission of a necessary 
word which should be supplied. 

A27 (a) If the parts of a single word have been separated, they should 

be united as in the following example— never the less, (b) If 

two words have been run together without space between 
them, they should be separated as in the following example— 
any#time. 

A28 Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) placed immediately above words 
or sentences direct that the words or sentences be rearranged 
in the order indicated by these numerals. 

A29 No theme will be finally accepted until all indicated errors have 
been corrected and all suggestions for improvement have been 
carried out. The grade originally entered on any theme is 
provisional and may be raised at the pleasure of the instructor 
if the revision of that theme is made very carefully and intelli¬ 
gently, or lowered if it is made carelessly and perfunctorily. 

A30 REWRITING OF THEMES 

A31 A theme should be rewritten only when such rewriting is requested 
by the instructor. 

A32 The word “‘Rewritten” should be placed at the head of the first 
page of the new version. 

A33 The new version should bear the endorsement of the original 
theme. (See No. A15.) 

A34 The original theme must be handed in with the new version. 

A40 TITLES 

A41 Every theme should have an appropriate title. 

A42 A title should be brief, clear, and suggestive. 

A43 Such explanatory phrases as A Description of University Hall, 
An Exercise in Paragraph Development, should be avoided as 
titles. 

A44 Usually, the title should not be a complete declarative sentence. / 

A45 The theme should not begin with a reference word having for its 
antecedent the title or any part of the title. The title and the 
theme itself are independent of each other. 

A46 The first word of a title and all important words—all words except / 
particles—should be capitalized. 

A47 The complete title should be underscored three times to indicate 
large capitals. 

A48 The title should be placed on the first ruled fine, and a space of 
one line left between the title and the body of the theme. 


13 


MATTERS OF FORM 

CAPITALIZATION 


B 

BIO 

B20 An initial capital is used in the following cases: 

B21 The first word of a sentence. 

B22 The first word of a line of poetry. 

B23 The first word of a complete direct quotation. 

Example.—When he reached home his father said simply, “Well, John, 
you’ve come at last, have you?” 

B24 Note.—A capital is not used, however, (a) for the first word of 

a quotation closely incorporated into the structure of a 
sentence, or (b) for the first word of a quotation resumed 
in the same sentence after an interruption. 

(a) Example.—He had heard of “the pangs of misprized love,” but 
he had not expected to feel them. 

(b) Example.—“That,” he declared, “is not true. The fact is”—here 
he smiled, somewhat queerly—“that Billy Woods simply can’t tell 
the truth.” 

B25 A proper noun or proper adjective. 

Examples.—London, the United States, Jupiter, Theodore Roosevelt, 
Indian, Latin, French. 

B26 Note.—Nouns and adjectives which were once proper but 

which have now lost their specific character are not cap¬ 
italized. 

Examples.—Titan, but titanic efforts; the Japanese navy, but japan 
ware. 

B27 Note.—The names of the seasons, winter, spring, etc. are not 

capitalized, nor are the words north, south, and the other 
points of the compass unless they refer to particular sections 
of the country. 

Example.—Evanston is north of Chicago. 

Example.—The Southwest is rapidly ceasing to be a cattle country. 
B30 A name is capitalized when it is used as a specific name to desig¬ 
nate a particular individual or object and not merely to include 
him or it within a class. Among particular applications of 
this.principle are the following: 

B31 A title or an abbreviation of a title when connected with a 

proper name or when standing alone to name a definite 
person. 

Examples.—President Wilson; Kaiser Wilhelm; George Brown, M. A.; 
Honorable J. C. Herbert, M. C. Observe the following: Aunt Mary 
is my favorite aunt; He is Professor Brown, the oldest professor in our 
faculty; I called Doctor Homan, as I could reach no other doctor; 
The President appeared before the Senate—A president is elected 
every four years. 

B32 A noun or adjective forming a component part of a proper name. 

Examples.—The Public Service Company of Northern Illinois, the 
Atlantic Ocean, the Rocky Mountains. Observe the following: 
Northwestern University is one of the larger universities of the Central 
West. State Street is one of the principal business streets of Chicago. 
The Oak Park High School formerly had very strong football teams 


14 


and regularly defeated the team of our high school. The University 
Club has a very attractive club building. 

B33 All important words—all except particles—in titles of books, 
plays, magazines, newspapers, musical compositions, arti¬ 
cles, themes, etc. 

Examples.— The Origin of Species, the Chicago Herald, Alice Sit-by- 
the-Fire, How lo Make Sorghum Molasses. 

B34 The names of specific divisions, organizations, classes, subjects, 

etc. 

Examples.—The Teutons, the Malays, the House of Representatives, 
the Department of Mathematics. Observe the following: Freshman 
English Composition, the Freshmen—He was a freshman who found 
the work in composition very difficult; the Presbyterian Church—a 
presbyterian form of church government; the Republican Party—a 
republican form of government; History A1—I am studying the history 
of representative government. 

B35 Names of the Deity and pronouns referring to the Deity, except 

when such pronouns closely follow their antecedents. Rela¬ 
tive pronouns are rarely thus capitalized. 

Examples.—God, the Son of Man, the Savior, the Holy Spirit. 

The missionary told them of Him who had died that they might live. 
The Almighty—him we adore. 

B36 Any term which through particular application has acquired 

the force of a proper name. 

Examples.—The Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Force Bill, the 
Reformation, the Renaissance, the Civil War—The Mexican people 
have long been engaged in civil war. 

B37 The pronoun I and the interjection 0 are also capitalized. 

B38 Note .—0 is used only with a substantive in direct address and is 

not separated from it by a mark of punctuation; oh is used to 
express emotion, is separated from the following word (if it is 
not also an expletive) by a comma or an exclamation point, and 
is not capitalized unless it is the first word in a sentence. 
Example.—Thy subjects greet thee, O king. 

Example.—Oh yes, I remember him. 

Example.—Oh, oh! You startled me. 

B39 Note.—Superfluous capitalization should be carefully avoided. 

B40 NUMBERS 

B50 In general, numbers are written out except as stated below. 

B60 Arabic numerals are used in the following cases: 

B61 To designate a number greater than one hundred that cannot 

be written out in one word or in two. 

Example.—Exactly two hundred men responded. 

Example.—The fighting strength of the battalion was reduced to 187 
men. 

B62 Note.—Approximations expressed in “round numbers” are 

always written out. 

Example.—The attendance is hardly fifty-five hundred. 


15 


B63 To designate a sum of money consisting of both dollars and 
cents. 

Example.—I gave him three dollars. 

Example.—I gave him twenty-seven cents. 

Example.—I gave him $3.27. 

B64 For cardinal numbers that refer to numbered objects; that is, 
for house numbers in street addresses, room numbers in 
buildings, page numbers in books, year numbers and usually 
days of the month in dates, and so on. 

Example.—He has a desk in Room 12 of the Security Building, 1332 
East Twenty-fifth Street. 

Example.—You will find the statement on page 18 of the edition pub¬ 
lished in 1913. 

B70 Note.—A number at the head of a sentence must be written out, no 

matter how large it is. If the number is such as would ordi¬ 
narily be represented by figures, the sentence should be rear¬ 
ranged so as to place the number not at the head of the sentence 
but within it. 

B80 Note.—In the same immediate context, consistency requires either 

that all numbers should be written out or that all should be rep¬ 
resented by figures. 

C. PUNCTUATION 

The marks of punctuation are the period (.), interrogation point (?), 
exclamation point (!), colon (:), semicolon (;), comma (,), dash (—), 
parenthesis marks ( ), square brackets [ ], double quotation marks (“ ”), 
single quotation marks ’), apostrophe (’), hyphen (-), and italics (in¬ 
dicated in writing by a single underscore). 

C100 SENTENCE PUNCTUATION 

The primary purpose of punctuation is to make clear the relation of 
ideas; a secondary purpose is to aid in giving emphasis to the expression 
of ideas. Although in the use and placing of marks of punctuation some 
latitude is given to individual taste and judgment, still, especially in the 
punctuation of the sentence, certain principles are so generally recognized 
that failure to observe them may lead to ambiguity. Sentence punctuation 
may be Terminal or Interior. 

C110 Terminal punctuation marks the end of a sentence, as in the follow¬ 
ing cases; 

Clll After every complete declarative sentence a period is placed. 

Cl 12 After every complete direct question an interrogation point is 

placed. 

Cl 13 After every complete, strongly exclamatory sentence an exclam¬ 
ation point is placed. 1 

Cl 14 After every sentence abruptly broken off and left unfinished in 

thought a dash is placed. 

Cl20 Interior punctuation may be (a) continuative or (b) separative. 

The most frequently used marks of punctuation are the colon, 
the semicolon, and the comma. Usually, though not invariably, 


16 


C130 

C131 

C132 

C133 


C134 


C135 

C136 


C137 


the colon indicates a continuation of thought and follows a 
clause that clearly implies a statement to follow. The semi¬ 
colon regularly indicates co-ordination, and its most distinctive 
use is to separate co-ordinate clauses not connected by a con¬ 
junction. The comma nearly always indicates separation and 
may separate elements of any kind whether co-ordinate or not. 
Continuative punctuation indicates that an addition is to follow 
a statement already made, as in the following cases: 

After an expression introducing a long and formal direct quo¬ 
tation a colon is placed. 

Example.—Mr. Hamilton called Alec into the room and said: 
“Now, my boy, you have the opportunity that you have been wait¬ 
ing for. Are you going to make good?” 

After an expression introducing a short direct quotation a 
comma is placed. 

Example.—Alec replied, “I am.” 

After a statement followed by a formal particularization or 
analysis a colon is generally placed. 

Example.—“He did for the historical essay what Haydn did for the 
sonata, and Watt for the steam-engine: he found it rudimentary 
and unimportant, and left it complete and a thing of power.”— 
Morison. 

Example.—The following were among the most important causes 
of the movement: general discontent under present social and 
economic conditions; widespread dissatisfaction with the political 
methods of the old parties; and the tremendous personal popu¬ 
larity of Colonel Roosevelt. 

After such a statement, however, when the particularization 
or analysis is introduced by that is, or i.e., a semicolon 
instead of a colon is sometimes employed. 

Example.—His activities were those of the students in his group; 
that is, he studied a little, danced a good deal, tried for an ath¬ 
letic team, devoted himself to three girls in rapid succession, and 
consumed much time and stationery in urgent or clever appeals 
to his parents for money. 

After a statement followed by an informal particularization 
or analysis a dash is placed. 

Example.—We talked on a dozen subjects—love, war, politics, and 
the trifles of the day. 

After a statement followed by an individual instance or illus¬ 
tration, when the instance or illustration is formally in¬ 
troduced by for example, viz., e.g., etc., a semicolon is 
placed. 

Example.—The complete results of many of these investigations 
have never been published; for example, the results of the inves¬ 
tigation as to the relations between the governor and one of the 
great public service corporations. 

After such a statement when the individual instance or illus¬ 
tration is informally presented without an introductory 
word or phrase, a dash is placed. 

Example.—The campaign contributions came from three sources— 
the largest sums from great industrial monopolies. 

17 


C138 Note.—Frequently such elements as that is and/or example 

introduce clauses, phrases, and single words parenthet¬ 
ically. When such is the case, the introductory element 
together with the matter it heads is set off from the con¬ 
text by dashes or commas, just as is any other parenthet¬ 
ical matter. (See sections C161, C162.) 

Example.—His library—that is, what he called his library—was a 
little box of a room, hardly large enough to hold its half-dozen 
novels and its big tobacco canister. 

Example.—Some models of fighting planes, the Spad, for instance, 
can do better than 125 miles an hour. 

Such as with the illustrations or particulars introduced by it 
usually constitutes a parenthesis and is punctuated ac¬ 
cording to sections C161, C162 below. That is, if the 
word group headed by such as is felt to be abruptly 
introduced, it is set off by dashes; if less abruptly intro¬ 
duced, it is set off by commas. Such as is not separated 
by any mark of punctuation from the word group it 
introduces. 

Example.—His former dependents—stich as had not deserted him 
—tried vainly to restore his self esteem. 

Example.—The examination covered very few of the subjects on 
which he was most thoroughly prepared, such as English, Algebra, 
and American History, and within five minutes he had resigned 
himself to failure. 

After such introductory words and phrases as for example, 
viz., in the first place, secondly, finally, etc. a comma is 
placed, except that after such as no mark of punctuation 
is placed. 

Example.—The Federal Government consists of three branches: 
namely, the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial. (For 
other illustrations see C134 and C136 above.) 

After a series followed by a summarizing word or phrase, a 
dash is placed. 

Example.—A rickety table, littered with papers; two broken- 
backed chairs, each on its last legs; a dirty cot, covered with dirtier 
bed-clothing; a heavy chest, its top cut and gashed—these were 
the only articles of furniture in the room. 

Cl50 Separative punctuation indicates that the relationship between 

contiguous elements is somewhat remote, or that such ele¬ 
ments do not directly qualify each other. There are three 
general principles governing the use of separative punctua¬ 
tion: (1) to indicate lack of close grammatical or logical 
relationship; (2) to indicate co-ordination; and (3) to prevent . 
equivocalness. 

Cl60 To indicate lack of close grammatical or logical relationship 

the marks of punctuation are used as follows: 

Cl61 A parenthetical or interpolated element when long or 

abruptly inserted is enclosed within dashes or paren¬ 
thesis marks. Usage to-day prefers dashes. A par¬ 
ticular variety of such parenthesis is that presenting 


C139 


C141 


C142 


18 


C162 

C163 

C164 

C165 

C166 

C167 

C168 

C169 


a cause or reason without an introductory conjunc¬ 
tion. 

Example.—After a moment—to Tom it had been an age—■ 
the teacher reappeared with a long, keen switch. 

Example.—When his opportunity at last came, he failed to 
take advantage of it—he had lost his nerve. 

A parenthetical or interpolated element when short or 
less abruptly introduced is set off by commas. This 
rule applies to such words and phrases as however, 
moreover, at least, in any case. 

Example.—The rumor, although it was utterly baseless, gained 
ready credence everywhere. 

Example.—We had, in fact, been carried over a crevasse. 

A non-restrictive modifier, particularly a non-restrictive 
participial phrase or relative clause, is set off by 
commas. 

Example.—The old house, built by one of the pioneers, will 
outlast many of its more recently constructed neighbors. 
Example.—This story, which at first had been regarded as a 
bit of idle gossip, soon came to be accepted as the truth. 

Note.—A restrictive modifier—that is, an element de¬ 
pendent upon some other element and essential to its 
meaning—is not separated from its principal by any 
mark of punctuation (see also section C196). 
Example.—Commissions were given to not more than half the 
men who entered the training camp. 

Example.—Not all that glitters is gold. 

Example.—The house built on the rock stood firm, but the 
house built on the sand crumbled into ruin. 

A word or phrase in apposition is set off by commas. 
Example.—This course, English A, is required of all students 
in their first year. 

Example.—English Al, or English Composition for Freshmen, 
extends only through the first semester. 

A phrase in the absolute construction is set off by com¬ 
mas. 

Example.—The work being very difficult, we were unable to 
finish it so soon as we had expected. 

A substantive in direct address is set off by commas. 

Example.—That report, Mr. President, is absolutely false. 
When such ap expletive as yes, no, or well introduces a 
sentence or clause it is followed by a comma. 
Example.—No, I am sure that he is mistaken. 

Example.—Well, why don’t you correct him? 

The following are set off by commas: (1) a title or an 
abbreviation of a title; (2) a geographical or place 
name; (3) the calendar number of a year. 

Example.—(1) A. T. Hadley, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Example.—(2) Chicago, Illinois. London, England. Evan¬ 
ston, Cook Co., Illinois. 

Example.—(3) Herbert Spencer died December 8, 1903, at the 
age of eighty-three years. 

19 


C171 


(a) When the relationship between a principal and a de¬ 
pendent clause is not very close or when the first 
clause is very long, the two clauses are usually sepa¬ 
rated by a comma, (b) If, however, the relationship 
between the clauses is very close, no mark of punctua¬ 
tion is used. (See section C196.) Observe the dif¬ 
ference in meaning due to insertion or omission of a 
comma between the clauses of the first two sentences 
given as illustrations below. 

Example.—(a) I am ready to go, wherever I may be sent. 
Example.—(b) I am ready to go wherever I may be sent. 
Example.—(a) They repeated and amplified what he had told 
them, although they had every reason to doubt the truth of his 
story. 

Cl72 When a sentence element is transposed from its normal 

position in the sentence, frequently it must be set off 
by a comma or commas. (See section C196b.) 
Example.—Suddenly, the crash came. 

Example.—Sergeants Jones, C. A., and Jamieson, R. E., were 
among the missing. 

Example.—His coat, shiny and threadbare, hung loosely from 
his shoulders. 

C173 An expression used to complete an unfinished statement 

by changing the construction or thought is preceded 
by a dash. 

Example.—My friends, I—but I don’t see any of my friends 
here. 

Cl74 An interpolation in a quoted passage is enclosed within 

square brackets. 

Example.—The Elizabethan critic, Puttenham, wrote in 1589: 
“In the latter end of the same King’s [Henry VII’s] reign 
sprung up a new company of courtly makers, of whom Sir 
Thomas Wyatt the elder and Henry, Early of Surrey, were the 
two chieftains.” 

Cl80 To indicate co-ordination, where two or more clauses not de¬ 

pendent upon each other are grouped to form a sentence, 
or where two or more similar elements of any kind have a 
common equal dependence upon some other element of 
the sentence, the marks of punctuation are used as 
follows: 

C181 Between independent clauses not joined by a co-ordinat¬ 

ing conjunction a semicolon is placed. 

Example.—One faction lauded him as the savior of his country; 
the other damned him as the destroyer of his party. 

C182 Note.— So, therefore, then, etc., are not co-ordinating con¬ 

junctions, but conjunctive adverbs, and accordingly 
clauses introduced by them come under the rule as 
stated above. (See also G112.) 

Example.—He felt that his plea had been successful; so he 
awaited the result composedly. 


20 


C183 


Between independent clauses that are joined by a co¬ 
ordinating conjunction, when the clauses are (1) very 
long or loosely connected, a semicolon is placed; (2) 
moderately long and somewhat closely connected, a 
comma is placed; (3) very short and closely con¬ 
nected, no mark of punctuation is placed. 

Example.—(1) Those precedents sustain the decision that 
picketing is illegal if it employs or suggests forcible interference 
with the rights of free labor; but those precedents also affirm 
the right of laborers to organize for the purpose of entering 
into collective bargaining with employers. 

Example.—(2) I had worked with him for many years, and dur¬ 
ing all that time I had found him the most faithful of friends. 
Example.—(3) The lightning flashed and the thunder roared. 

Cl84 Between the members of a compound predicate con¬ 

nected by a co-ordinating conjunction, when the 
members are (1) very long or loosely connected, a 
comma is placed; (2) short and closely connected, no 
mark of punctuation is placed. 

Example.—(1) These stockades were very effectual defences 
against men without artillery, and were rarely taken by even 
the fiercest assaults of the Indians. 

Example.—(2) Ephemeral parties rise and fall over special 
questions of temporary importance. 

C185 Between the members of a series of clauses preceded by 

an introductory word or phrase or followed by a sum¬ 
marizing word or phrase a semicolon is placed. 
Example.—The reasons alleged for believing that Shakespeare 
could not have written these plays amount to this: that his 
early life was spent in a small country town; that he had not 
• a university education; that most of his early associates and 
connections were illiterate; that his signatures were almost 
unintelligible; and that no single letter or manuscript exists 
in his hand-writing. (For another illustration see C142.) 

C186 Between the members of a series of simple,' co-ordinate 

elements wherever a co-ordinating conjunction is 
omitted, and before the co-ordinating conjunction 
that precedes the last member of such a series, a 
comma is placed. (See section C196a.) 

Example.—He begged, protested, whined, and swore; but his 
captor was obdurate. 

Example.—Rich and poor, young and old, good, bad, and indif¬ 
ferent—all were present in the gathering. 

Cl87 To emphasize distinctness between two co-ordinate ele¬ 

ments, these elements may be separated by a comma. 
Example.—The task is not to find men, but to employ them 
most effectively. 

Example.—His success resulted from two elements of his char¬ 
acter—a willingness to take a chance, and an unwillingness to 
let go after once having taken hold. 

C190 To prevent equivocalness, where elements of a sentence may 

be wrongly grouped in thought and thus momentarily 


21 


be susceptible of more than one interpretation, marks of 

punctuation are used as follows: 

A clause introduced by because, as, if, or rarely, by 
another conjunction, is preceded by a comma. 
Example.—Although forty years of age, he did not look so old, 
as his years had left few marks upon him. 

A conjunction or adverb which may be mistaken for a 
preposition (as is the case with but, for, and above, 
below, etc.) is separated by a comma from the element 
with which it may be wrongly grouped. 

Example.—The birds without, despair of getting in; the birds 
within, despair of getting out. 

Example.—Below, the water falls into a deep pool. 

Example.—He could write in almost any form, but the sonnet 
was his favorite. 

Complex sentence elements that contain simpler elements 
punctuated by commas are themselves separated by 
semicolons. 

Example.— -A rickety table, littered with papers; two broken- 
backed chairs, each on its last legs; a dirty cot, covered with 
dirtier bed-clothing; a heavy chest, its top cut and gashed— 
these were the only articles of furniture in the room. 

The omission of a grammatically necessary element of a 
sentence is indicated by a comma. 

Example.—Youth demands excitement; maturity, recreation; 
old age, rest. 

A comma may be used wherever it really helps to make 
clear the meaning intended by the writer. In a very 
involved sentence or in a sentence in which two verbs 
come together, a comma may even separate a subject 
from its verb. 

Example.—Whatever is, is right. 

Example.—What evidence there was, was against him. 

Note.—Normally, sentence elements having a very close 
grammatical or logical relationship are not separated 
from each other by any mark of punctuation. (See 
also sections C164, C171b.) For example, (a) the 
last of a series of two or more co-ordinate adjectives 
or adverbs is not separated by a comma from the 
word it modifies (see section C186); (b) even when 
the normal order is inverted (see section C172), 
usually a verb is not separated from its subject or its 
object or its predicate complement by a mark of 
punctuation; (c) the second member of a comparison 
introduced by as or than is not separated from the 
first member. 

Example.—(a) Terry recognized me with quick* sharp, eager 
barks and nervous, excited flirts of his stumpy tail. 

Example.—(b) “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these 
three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 

Example.—(b) “Him the Almighty Power 

Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky.” 


C199 


Marks of sentence punctuation should not be placed at the 
beginning of a line, as they mark off what has preceded, 
not what follows them. Quotation marks, of course, are 
excepted from this statement. 

C200 QUOTATION 

With a direct quotation (one reproducing the exact words of a writer 
or speaker) special devices of form are employed. Though quoted matter 
is punctuated in accord with the general principles stated in the preceding 
sections, it will be serviceable to assemble all directions concerning quo¬ 
tation. 

C210 The punctuation of direct quotation is as follows: 

C211 When the verb of saying precedes, it is separated (a) from a 
long direct quotation by a colon; (b) from a short direct 
quotation by a comma. 

Example. —(a) Mr. Hamilton called Alec into the room and said: 
“Now, my boy, you have the opportunity for which you have been 
waiting. Are you going to make good?” 

Example. —(b) Alec replied, “I am.” 

C212 When the verb of saying follows or is interpolated, it is sepa¬ 
rated from the quotation by a comma or by commas. 
Example. —“It’s queer that you have not found it yet,” I remarked. 
Example. —“If I had found it,” he rejoined, “it would be even queerer.” 

C213 When the quotation is fragmentary or has a very close gram¬ 
matical connection with some other element of the sentence, 
it is not separated by marks of punctuation. 

Example. —He had heard of “the pangs of misprized love,” but he had 
not expected to feel them. 

C220 With direct quotation, quotation marks are used as follows: 

C221 

C222 


C223 


C224 


C225 


23 


A direct quotation is enclosed within double quotation marks. 
Example. —For illustration, see C211, C212. 

When a quotation is interrupted, quotation marks are used to 
mark the interruption. 

Example. —“That,” he declared, “is not true. The fact is”—here he 
smiled somewhat queerly—“that Billy Woods simply can’t tell the 
truth.” 

A direct quotation included within another direct quotation is 
enclosed within single quotation marks. 

Example. —“Why Sis!” exclaimed Henry, “I heard him say to you, 
‘Annie, you are the most incorrigible little coquette I know.’ ” 

Note.—The English practice, which is followed to some extent 
in this country, employs single quotation marks for a simple 
quotation, and double quotation marks for a quotation in¬ 
cluded within another. It is thus the reverse of the normal 
American practice. 

A quotation consisting of more than one paragraph or stanza 
is set off by quotation marks at the beginning and at the 
end of the whole quotation, and at the head of each para¬ 
graph or stanza. Quotation marks are omitted at the end 
of all paragraphs or stanzas except the last. 


C226 Quotation marks are used at the head of a sentence only to 
mark the words of another speaker—not another sentence 
by the same speaker. 

Example.—Compare the illustrations to section C 211 , C 212 with that 
to section C232. 

C230 Other devices of form by which direct quotation is distinguished 
are the following: 

C231 For the use of capitals with direct quotation, see Sections B23, 
B24. 

C232 A formal direct quotation of several sentences is begun on a 
new indented line. The first line following the quotation is 
not indented unless the quotation completes the paragraph. 
Example.—The notion, somewhat too commonly entertained among 
the undergraduates, that hard work should not be allowed to interfere 
with “college activities” and the joys of college life is being strongly 
combated by members of college faculties. Professor Lockwood thus 
expresses himself: 

“If a man is not a student, he has no right to a place in college. 
A man gets into college in order to learn, just as a seaman gets 
into a ship in order to sail the seas. If the sailor will not go aloft 
7 —will not rub and scrub—he has no right to be on board. And 
just so a student, if he will not read and write, and grub and 
think, has no excuse whatever for being in a college. The college 
that allows men that do not study, and who have no intention of 
studying, to remain enrolled in long-continued idleness is degrad¬ 
ing itself, robbing the student, and betraying the state.” 

The vigor of the statement reflects the strength of Professor Lockwood’s 
feelings. That his convictions are widely held is apparent from the 
actions of college authorities throughout the country. 

C240 An indirect quotation (one reproducing the thought but not the 
exact words of a writer or speaker) is in no way set off from its 
context: it is not separated from the verb of saying by any 
mark of punctuation; it is not enclosed in quotation marks; 
and its first word is not capitalized. 

Example. Alec was told that he now had the opportunity for which he 
had been waiting. 

C300 WORD PUNCTUATION 

In what may be called word punctuation, since it is difficult to formu¬ 
late general principles upon which a logical classification may be based, 

the various cases are classified according to the symbols employed. 

C301 A period is placed after (a) an abbreviation, (b) any symbol not 
enclosed within parentheses (capital Roman numerals excepted) 
used to number an item, except in the case of page numbers. 
Example.—Hon., B.S., etc., N.B. 

C302 An exclamation point is placed after a strongly emotional inter¬ 
jection. 

Example.—Ouch! that hurt. 

C303 Note.—When an interjection is not strongly emotional, or when 
the sentence in which the interjection stands is punctuated by 
an exclamation point, a comma instead of an exclamation 
point is placed after the interjection. 

Example.—Oh dear, I’ve just missed him! 

.24 


C304 Double quotation marks are used to enclose (a) slang in composi¬ 
tions otherwise serious and dignified; (b) words or phrases used 
in a peculiar or generally unfamiliar sense—including, usually, 
terms that are accompanied by their definitions; (c) titles of 
articles, poems, etc. not separately published but included in 
some larger publication. 

Example.—(b) In reading accounts of Russian affairs, an English 
reader is often puzzled by the terms “pood” and “verst.” The “pood” is 
equivalent to 36 pounds avoirdupois, and the “verst” to 3500 feet. 
Example.—(c) “Decorating the Small House” is the title of a serviceable 
article in a recent number of House and Garden. 

C305 A hyphen is placed between the words of a phrase when the phrase 
is felt to have the function of a single word. 

C306 A hyphen 'is placed after the first part of a word that is divided 
at the end of a line. 

C307 Note.—A word should be divided into only such parts as have full 
syllabic value; for proper division into syllables consult an 
adequate dictionary. 

C310 The apostrophe has the following uses: 

C311 It is placed before an s added to indicate the possessive case. 
Example.—John’s, boy’s, Dickens’s, men’s. 

C312 It is placed after the final letter of a word to which s is not 
added to indicate the possessive case; for example (1) plural 
forms ending in s, (2) certain singular forms ending in s or 
an s sound. 

Example.—(1) Ladies’, boys’. 

Example.—(2) Conscience’ sake, Jesus’ name. 

C313 It is placed before the plural sign s with letters of the alphabet, 
other symbols, and words considered merely as words. 
Example.—Mind your p’s and q’s. 

Example.—His speech was little more than a series of if’s and and’s. 

C314 It is placed at the point where there is an omission of a letter 
or letters in a contraction. 

Example.—Don’t, isn’t, couldn’t. 

C315 Note.—The possessive pronoun its, like his, hers, ours, etc., is 

not marked by an apostrophe. It is thus distinguished 
from the contraction it’s (for it is). 

C320 Italicization (indicated in manuscript by a single underscoring line) 
has the following uses: 

C231 It indicates the word or words upon which peculiar emphasis 
is to be placed. 

C322 Note.—For this purpose italicization should be employed very 

sparingly. 

C323 It marks (a) foreign words not taken into the language; (b) 
titles of musical and artistic compositions and of separately 
published books, plays, poems, periodicals, etc.; (c) letters, 
words, and numerical symbols, considered merely as such; 
(d) names of vessels. 

Example.—(a) The assembly adjourned sine die. 


25 


Example.—(b) Vanity Fair was refused publication in Colburn's 
Magazine. 

Example.—(b) The Descent from the Cross is probably the best known 
of all Rubens’s pictures. 

Example.—(c) For illustration see section C313. 

Example.—(d) The Titanic and the Olympic were sister ships. 

C329 Superfluous punctuation of every sort is to be carefully avoided. A 
writer should use no mark of punctuation that he cannot justify. 

SPECIMEN THEMES AND OUTLINES 

In order that illustrations of the more important principles and details 
of organization both of the whole composition and of outlines may be 
provided, two specimen themes with accompanying outlines are presented. 
The first, A Successful System of Student Government , is accompanied only 
by a complete statement outline; the second, The Mary Wynne High 
School of Domestic Arts } is accompanied by both a topical and a complete 
statement outline. 

COMPLETE STATEMENT OUTLINE OF A & UCCESSF UL 
S YSTEM OF ST UDENT GOVERNMENT 

The current tendency toward greater democracy in political matters is 
reflected in educational communities in the development of systems of stu¬ 
dent government, of which one of the simplest and most successful is 
that in operation in Lake View High School. 

I. The Lake View system of student government is administered 
through a commission 

A. composed of 

1. five commissioners representing the whole student body, who 
are selected by means of 

a. a nominating primary. 

b. a popular election. 

2. a number of deputies, five being elected in each section room. 

B. divided into five departments, each including 

1. a commissioner. , 

2. deputies from each room. 

C. presided over by the commissioner who has received the largest 

popular vote. 

II. The administrative activities are distributed among the various de¬ 
partments as follows: 

A. The most important department, that of Public Manners and 
Morals, which is presided over by the president of the com¬ 
mission, 

1 supervises social affairs. 

2. helps to develop character and good conduct by 

a. bringing out the best in the students. 

b. checking extravagance and bad habits. 

3. passes upon violations of school law. 

B. The Department of Public Health, which remedies evils over¬ 
looked or neglected by the school authorities, 


26 


1. corrects laxity in janitor service. 

2. reports unhealthful conditions to the proper authorities. 

C. In the closely allied departments of Public Safety and Public 

Improvement 

1. the former 

a. remedies defects in hallways and stairways. 

b. regulates movement in the halls. 

c. prevents minor accidents. 

2. the latter 

a. co-operates with the former. 

b. prevents dangerous accumulation of rubbish. 

* c. is responsible for the good appearance of the buildings 
and grounds. 

D. The Department of Public Attendance enforces regular class 

attendance. 

The friction that might be expected between the commission and the 
students or the school authorities does not appear, because 

1. the students 

a. realize that the commission is working in their interest. 

b. can check any usurpation of power. 

2. the school authorities 

a. sympathize with the object of the commission. 

b. attempt to exert only indirect influence upon the activity of the 
commission. 

A SUCCESSFUL SYSTEM OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT 

The tendency in political communities toward more direct and active 
participation of the citizen in matters of government, a tendency that has 
resulted in direct primaries and in provisions for direct popular control 
of legislation through the initiative and referendum, has also shown itself 
in educational communities. In many colleges throughout the United 
States the students have assumed control over themselves by means of 
college commissions or student councils, and in a number of high schools 
and grammar schools, too, student government has been introduced. The 
systems of government being tried out have met varying degrees of suc¬ 
cess; one of the simplest—that in force in the Lake View High School of 
Chicago, has been in operation for a number of years and has succeeded 

admirably. „ „ . . , , , u 

The basis of this system is a group of five commissioners elected by 
the school at large and a body of deputies chosen from each section room. 
As the commissioners are the really responsible governing officers, every 
effort is made to secure thoroughly representative men and to prevent 
any improper electioneering. Every student first votes for ten candi¬ 
dates in a primary election, and the ten persons receiving the highest 
number of votes are declared nominated. Immediately afterwards, the 
election is held. Every student now votes for five men from the ten 
nominees, and the five receiving the largest vote are elected. At the 
time of this election, each section room elects from its own members nve 


27 


deputies who are its direct representatives. The entire administrative 
body is then organized into five departments, each consisting of a com¬ 
missioner who heads the department and the proper deputies from the 
section rooms. The president of this body is that commissioner who has 
received the largest popular vote. 

The president of the commission is also the head of the Department 
of Public Manners and Morals—the most important of the five depart¬ 
ments, as by it the career and the conduct of the individual student is 
most affected and regulated. Its duties are various: it supervises all 
social affairs conducted by organizations of the school; it attempts to 
cultivate the truest and most genuinely lady-like instincts among the 
girls, checking, for example, any tendency to immodest extravagance in 
dress; it encourages the boys to conduct themselves like men, and endeav¬ 
ors to curb vicious or injurious habits such as smoking. In conjunction 
with the heads of the other four departments, it performs the most serious 
duty of all—that of considering and passing judgment upon all violations 
of school law. Among the offenses within its jurisdiction are cheating 
on examination and attempts to evade the prohibition against fraternities 
in the high school. 

Second to this chief department comes that of Public Health. On 
first thought, one might consider this department unnecessary in view of 
the fact that the school authorities provide for properly healthful condi¬ 
tions. When one considers, however, the large number of schools in the 
city of Chicago, one realizes that some details affecting student health 
may unintentionally be neglected by the authorities. In Lake View the 
school Department of Public Health remedies any such neglect. It 
promptly corrects any laxity on the part of the janitor force in providing 
heat or ventilation. It sees to it that the choking fine dust which collects 
during the day is removed before school opens on the following day. It 
sends in to the proper authorities reports of unhealthful rooms—unhealth¬ 
ful because of improper ventilation, overcrowding, or poor light. Aston¬ 
ishingly often the Department of Public Health has proved of benefit to 
the student body. 

Two other departments, those of Public Safety and of Public Improve¬ 
ment, are so closely allied that they can hardly be treated separately. In 
almost every school, unless it is of very recent construction, the hallways 
and stairways are defective. The latter are often too narrow, are very 
much worn, and when used by large numbers sway so much that their 
safety is at least dubious. The hallways of old buildings are frequently 
so narrow that four persons can hardly walk abreast in them. And these 
buildings have a thousand or more lives daily within their walls! As a 
result of these conditions the Department of Public Safety finds its duties. 
Under its supervision, the unsafe stairs are repaired. The order of progress 
in the halls is regulated, especially in the case of the brilliant fire drills, 
which—despite the narrowness of the halls—empty the building in three 
minutes. Successful efforts are made to prevent accidents with un¬ 
sheathed hatpins. The frequency of jams in the halls and on the stairs is 
minimized by strictly enforced regulations. The Department of Public 
Safety, in carrying out plans to make the school a safe place for the stu- 


28 


dents, is strongly supported by the Department of Public Improvement. 
Moreover, the latter department has the responsibility of seeing that the 
building is kept clean so that accidental fires may not start in the rubbish 
that ought to have been removed instead of being permitted to accumu¬ 
late where the pupils have thrown it. This department, too, is directly 
responsible for the good. appearance of the buildings and grounds. It 
sees to it that the grounds are not disfigured by unsightly litter and that 
the appearance of the school is always presentable. One who knew Lake 
View only in the old days could hardly believe in the possibility of so 
great a transformation in appearance as has actually taken place. 

The department to be mentioned last is not the least in importance; it 
has done as much as any other to tone up the school life in a most impor¬ 
tant respect. Some students seem unable to come to class on time; others 
absent themselves from class so frequently that their scholastic standing 
suffers. These two classes feel the power of the Department of Attend¬ 
ance. This department is vigilant in catching and merciless m providing 
punishment for the habitual tardies and the class ditchers. 

It might be expected that such a body as this commission, which is 
concerned with practically every element of school life except instruc¬ 
tion, would come into serious conflict with both the students and the 
school authorities. Such, however, has not been the case. The student 
body give the commission their full support because they realize that the 
commissioners are ultimately their representatives working in their inter¬ 
est, and because through their direct representatives, the deputies, they 
can check any usurpation of power by the commissioners. The school 
authorities, realizing that the commission is working for the best inter¬ 
ests of the school, and believing that the students by working together 
can best solve their own problems, are glad to encourage this civic fram¬ 
ing, and they feel called upon to exert only a slight restraining and guiding 
influence upon the activity of the commission. Faculty and student body 
are equally proud of the achievements of the student commission. 

TOPICAL OUTLINE OF THE MARY WYNNE HIGH SCHOOL 
OF DOMESTIC ARTS 

The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts is distinguished for 
the success of its practical training in domestic science and domestic art. 

I. The Department of Domestic Science. 

A. First course 

1. simple cookery. 

2. kitchen cleanliness. 

B. Second course 

1. chemistry of foods. 

2. elaborate cookery. 

C. Third course 

1. marketing. 

2. catering for large numbers. 

II. The Department of Domestic Art. 

A. Dressmaking and millinery 

1. first course, plain sewing. 

29 


2. second course, cutting and fitting. 

3. third course. 

a. advanced dressmaking. 

b. millinery. 

B. Household decoration. 

The success of the school is proved by the demand for its graduates 
for business positions and by the attractiveness of their homes. 

COMPLETE STATEMENT OUTLINE OF THE MARY WYNNE 
HIGH SCHOOL OF DOMESTIC ARTS 

The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts is distinguished for 
the success of its practical training in domestic science and domestic art. 

I. The department of domestic science gives the student practical expe¬ 
rience 

A. in the first course, in 

1. simple cookery. 

2. kitchen cleanliness. 

B. in the second course, in 

1. chemistry of foods. 

2. elaborate cookery. 

C. in the third course, in 

1. marketing. 

2. catering for large numbers. 

II. The department of domestic art offers courses 

A. in dressmaking and millinery, which give the student practical 

training 

1. in the first course, in plain sewing. 

2. in the second course, in cutting and fitting. 

3. in the third course, in 

a. advanced dressmaking. 

b. millinery. 

B. in household decoration, in which, partly through study, partly 

through practice, the student learns to furnish and decorate a 

home. 

The success of the school is proved by the demand for its graduates 
for business positions and by the attractiveness of their homes. 

THE MARY WYNNE HIGH SCHOOL OF DOMESTIC ARTS 

One of the most conspicuously successful of the many industrial high 
schools for girls is the Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Arts. Its 
curriculum includes such courses in English, mathematics, history, and 
the modern languages as are considered essential, but its distinctive char¬ 
acter results from the courses in domestic science and domestic art. Its 
especial purpose is to prepare its graduates either to manage their own 
household affairs capably and easily or to take their places among the 
increasingly large body of self-supporting women. This aim it accom¬ 
plishes by providing its students with thoroughly practical training, of 
which direct, first-hand experience is the most important element. 


30 


The courses in domestic science exemplify the eminently serviceable 
character of the work done in the school. In the first course the students 
are taught the fundamental processes which every housewife should know, 
no matter how simple her housekeeping may be. They learn to cook by 
actually baking bread and plain cake, cooking cereals, meats, and vege¬ 
tables, and preparing simple desserts. In a similar fashion they are 
taught the proper care of the kitchen: they wash their dishes in steaming 
suds; boil their dish-cloths in soda; and keep their sinks, floor, and refrig¬ 
erator spotless. Those who continue into the second course learn enough 
of the chemistry of foods to plan appetizing and hygienic menus. They 
prepare and serve entire meals, and gradually learn how to make the 
more elaborate dishes that their lengthening menus demand. Finally, 
in the most advanced classes, the pupils learn how to market economically 
and to plan meals for large numbers. Their training here is especially 
practical, as they take charge of the school lunch-room. They do the mar¬ 
keting, cooking, and serving themselves, and they manage so successfully 
that the profits pay the expenses of their department. 

Like the courses in domestic science, those in domestic art are both 
interesting and practical. In the first year the girls learn plain sewing 
but not by the old-fashioned patchwork method. They begin by buying 
their own materials and making whatever simple articles they wish; but, 
by the end of the year, each girl has a full set of muslin underwear that 
she has made herself. The next fall she is ready to cut her own patterns 
and try her hand on waists, skirts, and gowns. If she continues her work 
for a third year, she may take up advanced dressmaking or millinery. 
In the first case, she learns to use a dress-form, to plan a becoming gown, 
and to cut, fit, and finish it herself; in the second, she constructs stylish 
hat frames and covers and trims them for her own use.. In either case, 
she must serve at least two weeks as apprentice in a shop in the city before 
she receives credit for the work of the year. 

In addition to these courses in sewing, dressmaking, and millinery, 
the department of domestic art has recently introduced work in house¬ 
hold decoration, which is proving extremely valuable. Its purpose is to 
teach future home-makers how to choose appropriate and harmonious 
furniture and rugs, wall paper and draperies. Each pupil has to do a 
considerable amount of text-book study and library investigation on the 
evolution of the modern house, the blending of colors, and the various 
types of furniture, and then she plans the furnishing of a home in every 
detail. She draws a careful plan of each room, decides on appropriate 
furniture and decorations, estimates the amount of money she may spend, 
and chooses each article only after having looked through the local stores 
and examined catalogues of leading firms in other cities. 

The practical success of the methods employed in the school is proved 
by the fact that last year there were open to graduates three times as 
many positions at good salaries as there were graduates seeking employ¬ 
ment. The number of attractive homes that owe most of their attractive¬ 
ness to the training their mistresses have received in this school probably 

runs well into the hundreds. 

\ 


31 


A comparison of The Mary Wynne High School of Domestic Art with 
Industrial Efficiency, an unsatisfactory theme on the same subject, will 
emphasize the importance of carefully considered organization and lend 
point to many of the suggestions and directions given later in the sections 
devoted to the Whole Composition and the Paragraph. It will also help 
to make clear the degree to which both clearness and interest depend upon 
abundant presentation of concrete details that support and particularize 
the more general assertions. 

INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 

Industrial efficiency is a great aid to students in learning. The Mary 
Wynne High School of Domestic Arts, a public school for girls, offers a 
fine example of practical idealism. Besides supplying a foundation for 
the development of culture in such a way as to make the pupils love their 
studies, it affords practical industrial training in domestic science to make 
the girls skilled in all the activities of the home and able, if necessary, to 
earn comfortable livelihoods. 

In the training for home life, the girls are taught the different methods 
of cooking and serving luncheons, besides other things of like character. 
For housewifery, they are taught how to build fires, to wash windows, and 
to care for refrigerators and like things. The third and fourth year courses 
give thorough training in the higher branches of domestic science. 

The luncheon service pays the entire expense of the department. 
These luncheons are served daily to the students, teachers, and chance 
visitors. The girls also cater for women's clubs, teachers' gatherings, and 
similar organizations. 

The school also offers general instructions in artistic harmonizing of 
colors. The girls are taught how best to select the furniture of a house on 
a given sum so that everything shall harmonize and be appropriate to its 
use and place. They are taught to begin with as little furniture as pos¬ 
sible, but that of good quality. 

Dressmaking is taught in such a way as to give the students an oppor¬ 
tunity to equip themselves for profitable employment. During the last 
year the girls spend at least two weeks in some dressmaking establishment. 

Training girls for home life is a very good idea. My own high school 
already offers a good many of the courses mentioned above, and the school 
board is preparing to add further work of the same kind. Within a few 
years, every girl in the school district ought to be competent to direct 
successfully all the affairs of her home. 

D THE OUTLINE 

D1 An outline, carefully thought out, is of the greatest service to a 
w nter in planning a theme, in testing its organization, and in 
exhibiting its structure. The first step toward an effective 
^theme is carefully to analyze the subject—to think over and 
think through the material which is to compose the theme, The 
second step, particularly in the preparation of an expository 
theme, should be to form a somewhat detailed outline; that is, 
82 


to test the analysis until there is assurance that the material 
will be organized into a unified, coherent, and effective treat¬ 
ment of the subject, and to write out this analysis so that it will 
serve as the framework of the theme. 

D2 There are two kinds of outlines—the topical and the complete 
statement outline. The former, whose especial service is to the 
writer in his preliminary analysis, consists in grouping the head¬ 
ings of the theme and the subordinate topics or points in such a 
way as to indicate by the arrangement the degree of importance 
of each. The latter is the final plan, in which not merely the 
relative importance of the various divisions and topics is made 
clear by arrangement, but the exact relationship of the various 
parts to one another is explicitly stated. It is the articulated 
skeleton of the theme. In many particulars the same rules 
and suggestions apply to the construction of both a topical and 
a complete statement outline. 

DIO THE STRUCTURE OF OUTLINES 

Dll The outline should indicate clearly both the structure and the con¬ 
tent of the theme, (a) The division of the whole subject into 
principal stages and of the principal stages into their component 
steps should be carried far enough to make apparent the struc¬ 
ture of the theme and the relation of its parts, (b) The analysis of 
the material should be carried so far that the sections indicated 
by the main headings, taken together, provide for a complete 
treatment of the whole subject, and that, likewise, the sub¬ 
ordinate points of similar notation grouped under a single head¬ 
ing suggest clearly an adequate development of the part of the 
subject indicated by this heading. In mathematical terms, the 
sum of all the topics I, II, III, etc., should clearly equal the 
whole subject; the sum of the heads A, B, C, etc., under I should 
equal an adequate development of topic I; the sum of the points 
1, 2, 3, etc., under A should equal the full development of topic 
A; and so on. 

D12 The outline should not have too many main headings—main head¬ 
ings indicate only the fundamental divisions of the whole sub¬ 
ject. A large number of main headings usually means that the 
preliminary analysis has been faulty in regarding as principal 
stages what are actually subordinate steps of a single stage. 
Wherever there has been excessive subdivision, a comprehensive 
heading must be. phrased and under it must be subordinated the 
topics or points that have been wrongly put as main headings. 

D13 The analysis should usually be carried to such a degree that the 
outline presents all the essential divisions and subdivisions of the 
subject but not the ultimate details of the theme; details not 
developed in the theme but merely enumerated should not 
appear in the outline. 


33 


D14 Usually it is illogical to indicate a single subdivision under any 
heading. If the heading contains only a single point, no sub¬ 
division should be indicated; if it includes more than one, the 
analysis into subdivisions should be made. 

D15 The division of the subject into its principal sections should be 
determined according to some one principle consistently fol¬ 
lowed; similarly, the analysis of each division and of each sub¬ 
division should be governed by the consistent application of one 
principle to each (see Coherence, E230). 

D16 The headings should indicate not form or function but content. 

Headings such as Introduction, Body, and Conclusion are, 
therefore, insufficient in themselves. A heading should indicate 
clearly the actual content of the particular division of the cor¬ 
responding theme. 

D17 (a) Every heading, principal or subordinate, should be broad 

enough to cover all the subheadings or points grouped under it. 
(b) All headings of the same logical rank must be mutually 
exclusive—there must be no overlapping. (As an illustration of 
(a), in the outline of The Mary Wynne High School, heading 
II, “The Department of Domestic Art,” is broad enough to 
include both the subheading of “Dressmaking and Millinery” 
and that of “Household Decoration.” As an illustration of (b), 
it would have been wholly illogical to make “Household Decora¬ 
tion” into heading III co-ordinate with heading II, “The 
Department of Domestic Art,” as the latter logically includes 
the former; in such a classification II and III would have 
overlapped.) 

D18 A subordinate point must be placed under the particular heading 
of which it is properly a part. If the subject has been analyzed 
completely and clearly, every bit of material to be used in the 
theme will have its especial function, and accordingly every 
point in the outline will have its particular place. 

D19 The headings of parallel stages should, so far as is practicable, be 
given similar form; that is, if the heading of the first main 
division is a phrase, the headings of all the main divisions should 
likewise be phrases; if the heading of the first is a noun, the 
headings of all the others should be nouns; in the same way, if 
the first subordinate heading of a subdivision is a noun, all the 
subordinate headings of the same rank in this subdivision should 
be nouns; and so on. For illustration, see the outline on 
pages 29-30. 

D21 If the theme requires an introductory or a concluding section, the 
essence of the introduction or the conclusion should be pre¬ 
sented in complete statement form (see the outlines of The Mary 
Wynne High School, pages 29 and 30). If either of these 
sections has definitely marked stages, the necessary division 
should be made (see the outline of A Successful System of 
Student Government, pp. 26-27). No formal connective or transi¬ 
tional element need be employed to unite the introduction or 

34 


the conclusion with the body of the theme, but the organic 
relationship must be made apparent. 

D22 The outline is the skeleton of the completed theme; accordingly, 
in material and in arrangement the theme should follow the out¬ 
line. If the material of the theme has been carefully analyzed 
and the outline properly constructed, significant divisions of the 
outline will correspond with the paragraph divisions of the 
theme. 

D30 NOTATION AND INDENTION OF OUTLINES 

The relative rank of every division and point in the outline should be 

made obvious by means of consistently employed systems of notation and 

indention. Observe the indention and notation of the outlines on pages 
26-27, 29-30. 

D31 A flexible and adequate system of notation is that according to 
• which the main headings are marked by Roman numerals 
I, II, etc., those of next importance by capital letters A, B, 
etc., the third by arabic numerals 1, 2, etc., the fourth by small 
letters a, b, etc., and heads or points still further subordinate 
by small letters with exponents—for the fifth stage a 1 , b 1 , etc., 
for the next a 2 , b 2 , etc., and so on. 

D32 A consistently employed system of indention makes clear to the 
eye the relative degree of subordination of the headings and 
points composing the outline, (a) The principal headings 
should be indented one step from the left-hand margin, all 
headings of second rank should be indented one step beyond 
the principal headings, all those of third rank should be in¬ 
dented one step beyond those of second rank, and so on. (b) 
The second and succeeding lines of a heading should not begin 
to the left of the first line of that heading; that is, no part of a 
heading should project to the left beyond the point at which 
that heading begins, (c) Throughout the outline the beginning 
of all points or headings of the same degree of subordination 
should be kept in a vertical line. 

D40 PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION OF OUTLINES 

D41 In topical outlines a few directions are necessary as to the use of 
capital letters and marks of punctuation, (a) Only the head¬ 
ings of the main divisions (I, II, etc.) and those of next rank 
(A, B, etc.) should begin with capital letters, (b) The head¬ 
ings of the main divisions (I, II, etc.) and the headings or 
points tff ultimate subdivision should be followed by periods; 
the punctuation within each separate subordinate heading 
should be according to the usual principles of punctuation. 

D42 In complete statement outlines the usual principles of capitalization 
and punctuation are to be followed exactly as in any other piece 
of connected writing. 


35 


D50 SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE COMPLETE STATE¬ 

MENT OUTLINE 

D51 The complete statement outline has been defined on page 33. Its 
distinctive characteristic is that it not only arranges the head¬ 
ings to suggest the structure and content of the theme but also 
definitely states the relations of the parts to the whole. The 
general principles given above (pages 32-35) apply, of course, 
to the construction of a complete statement outline, and in 
addition there are special directions. For illustration, see the 
complete statement outlines on pages 26-27 and 29-30. 

D52 The heading of each main division should be a topic clause—one 
containing, that is, a subject and predicate—which indicates 
broadly the content of the division. 

D53 (a) Any series of successive single headings taken in order from a 

main heading down to the point of lowest subdivision should 
make a grammatically complete sentence; and (b) every heading 
or point that appears in any division of the outline should stand 
in grammatical relation to the immediately preceding head and 
to the sentence which is begun by the topic clause constituting 
the main heading. (For example, (a) in the outline of A Suc¬ 
cessful System of Student Government (page 26) each of the 
following series of successive headings makes a complete and 
grammatical sentence: I, A, 1, a; I, A, 1, b; I, A, 2; I, B, 1; 
I, B, 2; I, C. Similarly, (b) each of the points or headings 
A, 1, a, etc., stand in grammatical relation to the immediately 
preceding heading and to the sentence begun by I.) 

D54 The headings of the main divisions need not be united by connec¬ 
tive elements, but their relation to each other and to the whole 
subject should be clearly and readily perceptible. 

E THE WHOLE COMPOSITION 

El The whole theme should be carefully planned. An hour spent in 
thinking over the subject and thinking through the material will 
save more than an hour wasted in false starts, in stumbling 
efforts to continue, and in rewriting to add matter that reflection 
shows should have been included or to remove matter that 
obviously has no proper place in the actual theme. Effective 
organization of the material depends upon careful planning in 
advance. Both the planning and the actual writing of a theme 
should be guided by three fundamental principles—Unity, Co¬ 
herence, and Emphasis. 

UNITY 

E100 The principle of Unity has two phases—the inclusion of essential 
material and the exclusion of unessential material. 

E110 More fully stated, the first requisite of Unity is that the theme 
should present all the material that is necessary for the ade¬ 
quate treatment of the subject. All essential stages of the 


36 


El 11 

E112 

E120 

E121 

E200 

E210 

E220 

E221 


development must be included, and these stages must be pre¬ 
sented by the details, reasons, proofs, illustrations, and so 
forth that are necessary to a rounded and satisfying treat¬ 
ment. 

One offense against this requirement of Unity is a failure to 
present'all the essential stages of the development. This 
error is to be rectified by such a redivision of the whole 
as will include the omitted stage. 

A second offense against this requirement of Unity is a too 
sketchy and slightly developed treatment of the various 
stages or of any one of them. The remedy is to supply 
the particular details, reasons, illustrations, and so forth 
that are necessary for a rounded and adequate develop¬ 
ment. See section F121. 

The general principle of Unity requires in the second place that 
all material not proper to the adequate treatment of the 
subject be rigorously excluded from the theme. Everything 
written presumably upon a definite subject should contribute 
unmistakably to the development and presentation of that 
particular subject. 

The chief offense against this requirement of Unity is the 
inclusion of extraneous matter. The remedy is to remove 
from the theme everything the inclusion of which is not 
warranted by its pertinence to the particular subject. 

COHERENCE 

The principle of Coherence comprises the two requirements of 
Order and of Connection. The writer must organize his mate¬ 
rial ; he must so order the various parts of the theme that they 
form not isolated sections but a well knit whole, and he must 
make clear to the reader the relations of the various parts to 
one another and to the whole. 

The first requirement of Coherence, that of Order, demands 
that the writer marshal his ideas, think in straightforward 
fashion, keep in mind the end from the beginning, through¬ 
out the theme present his material according to some con¬ 
sistently followed plan. A consistent plan requires (1) that 
the parts or stages of the whole theme be determined accord¬ 
ing to some well-considered principle, and (2) that the single 
parts or stages be so ordered that the thought of the whole 
moves steadily forward. The offenses against order are of 
two kinds—ill-considered division o i the whole subject and 
illogical arrangement of material. 

Ill-considered division results in three serious defects of 
organization: 

The first is an indiscriminate grouping of material and a 
consequent confusion of plan. The remedy is to 
determine the really significant divisions of the whole 
theme, to settle upon the content of each division, 


37 


E222 


E223 


E230 


and to arrange in each the material that properly 
belongs in it. 

The second is excessive division, or failure to recognize 
that parts presented as distinct stages are so closely 
related that they actually form a single complete 
stage. The result is that the reader fails to see im¬ 
mediately the interdependence of parts and misses 
the connection that should have been made obvious. 
The remedy is to combine under a single sufficiently 
inclusive topic all material that actually develops a 
definitely marked stage in the development of the 
theme. 

The third is insufficient division, or the grouping together 
of two or more complete stages which are related to 
one another, but each of which forms a distinct step 
in the development of the whole theme. The result 
is that the reader cannot clearly and easily perceive 
the significant stages of the development. The 
remedy is to divide the subject matter into sections 
each of which contains the material presenting a 
significant stage and to provide appropriately 
limited topics for each section. 

Illogical arrangement prevents the steady progression of 
thought; it means backing and filling and tacking from 
side to side instead of sailing straight ahead. To aid the 
reader in following the course of thought, the writer must 
both place the various sections of the theme and arrange 
the material of each section according to some principle 
of order that is consistently adhered to. (a) In a simple 
historical narrative and in an explanation of a process, 
the most natural and usually the most effective order is 
chronological, according to which events or stages are 
arranged in the order of their succession in time, (b) A 
second order frequently serviceable is a consistent pro¬ 
cedure from the more general to the more particular, or 
the converse, (c) For contrast or comparison usually 
the most effective order is that of balance, according to 
which the similar or opposed ideas are given similar form 
and set clearly over against each other, (d) Frequently 
the order of climax can be best employed; according to 
this, the material is arranged so as to present the ideas 
in the ascending scale of their importance, logical or emo¬ 
tional. The order of the stages in the presentation of the 
whole theme and that of the development of the material 
in each stage need not be the same; but the placing of all 
the main stages must be according to a single well defined 
arrangement; if these principal sections are divided fur¬ 
ther, the subdivision of each of the larger sections must 
be made according to a single principle; and the arrange- 


38 


ment of all the material within a single stage must be 
according to a single definite order. For example, the 
stages in the presentation of the whole theme may be 
arranged according to time order; and the first stage may 
be developed by passing from general to particular state¬ 
ment, thp second stage by contrast, the third by time 
order, and so on. But the material of each stage should 
be presented according to one consistently employed 
order. (The organization of both A Successful System of 
Student Government, pages 27-29, and The Mary Wynne 
High School of Domestic Arts, pages 30-31, observes this 
principle of orderly arrangement. An analysis of either 
of these themes will be an effective illustration of this 
section.) 

E240 Connection, the second requirement of the principle of Coher¬ 
ence, demands that the exact relationship of the stages to 
one another and the exact import of all the material com¬ 
posing each stage be made perfectly clear by the use of con¬ 
nective elements that point out the direction of the thought. 
These elements may be compared to the milestones and 
directing marks upon a highway—they serve to keep the- 
traveler on the right road. So far as the whole theme is 
concerned, the requirement of Connection is that the exact 
relationship of every paragraph to the preceding and the 
exact relationship of every group of connected paragraphs 
to the preceding group be made apparent by appropriate 
transitional or connective devices. Sometimes a transitional 
sentence or clause at the head of a succeeding paragraph 
or section is necessary to show the relationship to the pre¬ 
ceding paragraph or sections. Most frequently, however, 
this relationship can be indicated by the simpler devices— 
words or phrases or inversions of word order—employed to 
connect the sentences within a paragraph. (See section 
F299.) The subject of connection between the parts of the 
paragraph is treated under the head of Paragraph Coher¬ 
ence (Sections F240-F297). 

E250 (a) Related both to Unity and to Coherence is an important con¬ 

sideration in planning and still more in actually composing a 
theme—the maintenance of a consistent Point of View. If a 
theme is a narrative of one’s own personal experience, the per¬ 
sonal point of view should be preserved throughout; if it is an 
impersonal exposition, the personal element should not be spo¬ 
radically injected. An account of a single typical day should 
be confined to the events of this one day without reference to 
what “usually” happens. A description should be written from 
the point of view of one person who actually could have per¬ 
ceived what is being described, (b) If a change in point of 
view is required, the change should be unmistakably indicated 

39 


E300 

E310 


' E320 


E400 


E410 

E411 


and the necessary transition clearly made. Especially exasper¬ 
ating is an unmotivated change in pronouns from “one” or 
“they” to “you” or “we.” 

EMPHASIS 

The third general principle that should guide the planning of a 
theme is that of Emphasis. A theme should not only present a 
single subject adequately and clearly, but it should also present 
this subject effectively. Especially should it make prominent 
the most important part or parts of the whole treatment. The 
principle of Emphasis has two phases—Position and Proportion. 
The rule of Position is that the most important matter should 
be placed where it will catch and hold the reader’s attention 
most strongly. The emphatic positions are at the beginning 
and at the end—of a stage or of the whole theme—and the 
end is a position of greater emphasis than the beginning. 
Usually if the treatment of the subject can properly be so 
ordered as to bring the most important matter into one of 
these positions—especially the end—this arrangement 
should be adopted. 

The rule of Proportion is that the more important ideas should 
be given the fuller development. The writer must (a) 
restrict his subject so that he can treat it adequately within 
the prescribed space—not all subjects can be presented fully 
and effectively in 700 or 1000 or 1500 words; (b) decide 
what parts of this subject are most significant; and (c) 
proportion his space accordingly. Reiteration, illustration, 
abundant detail should impress the more important ideas 
upon the mind of the reader, and the relatively greater bulk 
should catch his eye. 

INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION 

The greatest difficulties in the effective management of a theme 
are apt to be encountered at the beginning and at the end; an 
unnecessary or fumbling introduction or a “tagged on” or falter¬ 
ing conclusion spoils the whole effect of a theme otherwise well 
organized. Neither introduction nor conclusion exists for its 
pwn sake; the sole purpose of the former is to lead easily and 
clearly into the presentation and development of the subject; 
the sole purpose of the latter is to round out this presentation 
and development satisfyingly and effectively. 

Two particular cautions or suggestions concerning introductions 
follow: 

In very many—probably most—short themes no formal intro¬ 
duction is necessary. Frequently it is advisable to begin 
at once with the actual treatment of the subject, possibly 
with a suggestion of the particular content or purpose of the 


40 


whole or an indication of the point of view in the first sen¬ 
tence. An unnecessary introduction is to be avoided. 

E412 In papers of considerable length a more formal introduction 
may be needed. It may serve to clear the ground for the 
treatment of the subject, for instance, by presenting neces¬ 
sary preliminary information, by indicating the framework 
of the theme, by making clear the scope of the treatment, by 
showing the circumstances that occasioned the writing, or 
by stating the writer’s point of view or his especial qualifica¬ 
tions. Sometimes it may serve to catch the attention of the 
reader by showing the connection of the subject to be pre¬ 
sented with another subject in which he has an interest. 
But whatever form the introduction may take, it must serve 
the one purpose of really introducing the theme. 

E420 Three particular cautions or suggestions concerning conclusions 
follow: 

E421 Every theme, no matter how long or how short, should give the 
impression of having been completed, not of being merely 
broken off. Sometimes a concluding section is necessary to 
round out the whole, sometimes a single sentence or even 
the turn of a phrase is adequate, but there must be some 
definite indication that the theme is complete. 

E422 The conclusion should be no longer than is necessary adequately 
to round out the theme. If one sentence is adequate, every 
additional sentence weakens the effectiveness. For many 
short themes no formal concluding paragraph is needed— 
frequently a single sentence is ample. 

E423 The conclusion, whatever its length, should grow naturally out 
of the theme itself and be felt as an integral, vital part of the 
theme. It must not introduce an unwarranted change in 
point of view or bring forward material not implied in the 
theme. Its sole function is to complete effectively the treat¬ 
ment of the particular subject that it concludes. An un¬ 
necessary or inorganic conclusion is a fatal defect. 

F THE PARAGRAPH 

FI A paragraph may be either a definite stage in the development of a 
longer theme or a miniature theme complete in itself. In either 
case, a well organized paragraph is a group of sentences so 
related as adequately to develop a single idea or present a single 
situation. In Description and Narration, a paragraph usually 
presents or develops a single scene or situation; in Exposition 
and Argumentation, it presents the development or amplifica¬ 
tion of a single idea. It must be borne constantly in mind that a 
properly constructed paragraph is not simply a group of sen¬ 
tences, but that it is a group of sentences serving some definite 
purpose—presenting a particular stage of the explanation or 


41 


proof, definitely advancing the action, presenting some phase 
of character or some unified impression, and so on. The content 
and structure of a paragraph should be determined by the prin¬ 
ciples of Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis, which apply even 
more rigorously and definitely than in a longer, composition of 
several paragraphs. 

F2 The nucleus of every properly constructed paragraph is a clearly 
defined idea to the development of which each sentence contrib¬ 
utes. This idea, or paragraph nucleus, is called the topic. In 
the more closely organized forms of composition, such as are 
Exposition and Argumentation, this central idea or topic should 
be capable of reduction to a single, unified sentence. The topic 
sentence need not always be explicitly stated in the paragraph 
itself, but may be in solution, so to speak; it should, however, 
always be definitely formulated in the mind of the writer. 
Usually it is safer to state the topic explicitly as one of the sen¬ 
tences of the paragraph; it will then serve as a guide and check in 
the presentation of material. Moreover, until a writer has ac¬ 
quired skill in composing effective paragraphs, he had best state 
the topic, whenever practicable, at the head of the paragraph so 
that he can keep it steadily before him from the beginning. This 
position of the topic sentence also indicates to the reader the 
content of the paragraph and aids him in following the thought. 

METHODS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT 

F10 The topic may be developed into the complete paragraph by 
several methods; probably the most generally useful are those 
illustrated below. 

Fll (1) Definition of the topic statement or of some part of it. Defini¬ 
tion includes not merely (a) logical definition, but also (b) 
repetition of the topic to secure greater clearness and definite¬ 
ness, (c) amplification or restriction of the topic, for example, 
by a statement as to what it is not or what it does not include, 
and (d) explanation of terms employed in the topic statement. 
Repetition and logical definition are illustrated in the first speci¬ 
men, and repetition and restriction by negation are illustrated in 
the second. The test of success in definition is clearness and 
adequacy; no likelihood of misunderstanding or misinterpreta¬ 
tion should be allowed to remain. 

(1) Memory proper, (TOPIC REPEATED) or secondary memory 
as it might be styled, (LOGICAL DEFINITION) is the knowledge of a 
former state of mind after it has already once dropped from conscious¬ 
ness; or rather it is the knowledge of an event, or fact, of which mean¬ 
time we have not been thinking, with the additional consciousness that 
we have thought or experienced it before.—William James, Briefer 
Course in Psychology. 

(2) Practically, then, at present, “advancement in life” (DEFINI¬ 
TION) means becoming conspicuous in life; (DEFINITION RE¬ 
PEATED) obtaining a position which shall be acknowledged by others 
to be respectable or honorable. (DEFINITION BY RESTRICTION) 


42 


We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere mak¬ 
ing of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplish¬ 
ment of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it. 
(DEFINITION REPEATED) In a word, we mean the gratification 
of our thirst for applause.—Ruskin. 

FI2 (2) Presentation of the particulars or details implied in the topic 

idea or situation. The especial caution is that (a) the details 
must be selected with reference to the particular idea or situa¬ 
tion implied in the topic, and (b) they must be adequate to 
develop this idea or situation. 

The isle—the undiscovered, the scarce believed in—now lay before 
them and close aboard; and (TOPIC) Herrick thought that never in his 
dreams had he beheld anything more strange and delicate. (PARTICU¬ 
LARS) The beach was excellently white, the continuous barrier of 
trees inimitably green; the land perhaps ten feet high, the trees thirty 
more. Every here and there, as the schooner coasted northward, the 
wood was intermitted; and he could see clear over the inconsiderable 
strip of land (as a man looks over a wall) to the lagoon within; and clear 
over that, again, to where the far side of the atoll prolonged its penciling 
of trees against the morning sky. . . . (TOPIC RESTATED) So 
slender the isle seemed amidst the outrageous breakers, so frail and 
pretty, he would scarce have wondered to see it sink and disappear with¬ 
out a sound, and the waves close smoothly over its descent.—-Stevenson, 
The Ebb Tide. 

(TOPIC) Reminiscences or references to his [Shakespeare’s] works 
are frequent in contemporary literature. (PARTICULARS) Among 
these are several passages in two plays, The Return to Parnassus , acted 
in St. John’s College, Cambridge, about 1601. In one passage, Kempe, 
the famous actor, speaks slightingly of the acting qualities of the plays 
by university pens and continues, “Why here’s our fellow Shakespeare 
puts them all down; ay, and Ben Jonson too,”—another identification of 
the actor and the dramatist Shakespeare. Another character in these 
plays prefers Shakespeare to Chaucer, Gower, and Spenser. Less en¬ 
thusiastic though sincerely appreciative is John Webster, who, in the 
Address to the Reader prefixed to The White Devil, 1612, acknowledges 
his indebtedness to his predecessors, Chapman, Jonson, Beaumont, and 
Fletcher, and to “the right happy and copious industry of Master 
Shakespeare, Master Dekker, and Master Heywood.” (TOPIC RE¬ 
STATED) Though of widely varying significance and interest, the 
numerous allusions to Shakespeare or to his plays give further testimony 
to his growing reputation.—Neilson and Thorndike, The Facts about 
Shakespeare. Used by permission of The Macmillan Company. 

F13 (3) Development of a comparison or a contrast. In such a para¬ 

graph the topic may (a) be completely stated in a single sen¬ 
tence; or (b) it may be divided, one member of the comparison 
being first presented and then developed, the second member 
later being treated similarly. In either case, the comparison 
or the contrast can be made most effective by the selection of 
clearly corresponding particulars of likeness or opposition, and 
by such an arrangement of these particulars as makes the 
likeness or opposition readily apparent. 

a. (TOPIC) The vast results obtained by science are won by no mystical 
faculties, by no mental processes other than those which are practiced by 
every one of us in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. (COMPARI¬ 
SONS) A detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks 
made by his shoe, by a mental process identical with that by which 
Cuvier restored the extinct mammals of Montmartre from fragments of 


43 


their bones. Nor does the process of induction and deduction by which 
a lady, finding a stain of a particular kind upon her dress, concludes that 
somebody has upset the inkstand thereon, differ in any way from that 
by which Adams and Leverrier discovered a new planet. (TOPIC 
RESTATED) The man of science, in fact, simply uses with scrupulous 
exactness the methods which we all habitually and at every moment 
use carelessly.—Huxley. 

b. (TOPIC STATEMENT OF FIRST MEMBER OF THE CON¬ 
TRAST) In our time, the audience of a member of Parliament is the 
nation. (PARTICULARS) The three or four hundred persons who 
may be present while a speech is delivered may be pleased or disgusted 
by the voice and action of the orator; but, in the reports which are read 
next day by hundreds of thousands, the difference between the noblest 
and the meanest figure, between the richest and the shrillest tones, 
between the most graceful and the most uncouth gesture, altogether 
vanishes. (TOPIC STATEMENT OF SECOND MEMBER OF THE 
CONTRAST) A hundred years ago, scarcely any report of what passed 
within the walls of the House of Commons was suffered to get abroad. 
(PARTICULARS) In those times, therefore, the impression which a 
speaker might make on the persons who actually heard him was every¬ 
thing. His fame out of doors depended entirely on the report of those 
who were within the doors. In the Parliaments of that time, therefore, 
as in the ancient commonwealths, those qualifications which enhance the 
immediate effect of a speech were far more important ingredients in the 
composition of an orator than at present.—Macaulay, Essay on William 
Pitt. 

F14 (4) Illustration of the topic, which is usually some general truth, 

by the citation of one or more specific instances or examples. 
The effectiveness of this method depends upon the careful 
choice of illustrations that at all points—except those specif¬ 
ically excluded—clearly apply to the particular topic. 

(TOPIC) Railroads and telegraphs make the world smaller. (SPE¬ 
CIFIC INSTANCE) A Chicago man may work at his office until five 
o’clock one afternoon, spend the night in restful slumber on a sleeping- 
car, and awake next morning in Buffalo, New York, in time for break¬ 
fast. As he sips his coffee he may read in the telegraphic dispatches of 
the morning paper the news of the past twelve hours, including details 
of the war in Europe, election returns from California, and shipping 
news from China. His family may have left Chicago eighteen hours 
previously during a mid-winter blizzard and now be basking beneath 
the palms of Florida. Anxious to learn of his wife’s safe arrival, he may 
send her a telegram and receive a reply within thirty minutes. While 
he is awaiting the reply, he receives a cable message that five hours 
previously a ship in which he has an interest has run upon a reef off 
the coast of Australia. (TOPIC RESTATED) Thus, because of 
rapid railway transportation and instantaneous telegraphic communi- 
• cation, a thousand miles has become a sleeping spell and ten thousand 
but the momentary click of a telegraph key. 

F15 (5) Presentation of proof of the topic statement or of reasons to 

support it. The effectiveness of this method depends (a) upon 
the force of the proof or reasons advanced and (b) upon the 
definiteness and clearness with which they are applied to the 
particular topic. 

Freedom of bargaining is not only thus essential to the community, 
especially to the workingmen; (TOPIC) it is also essential to the best 
interests of the trades-unions. (REASONS) The trade-union, to be 
permanently efficient, must be an organization of free men; it must be 


44 


composed of members who believe in unionism and are loyal to it; it 
must be an industrial army of volunteers, not of drafted men; it must 
make its way in the labor world by persuading the laborers that it is 
for their interest to join it and be loyal to it, not by coercing them to 
join it by threats of violence on the one hand or starvation on the 
other. ... If the workingmen are coerced into a labor organization, 
as some labor., leaders would have them in this twentieth century, the 
same process which deprives them of their freedom deprives the labor 
organization of that spirit of brotherhood which is at once the justifica¬ 
tion for its existence and the inspiration of its power. The right of 
labor to organize rests upon the right of the individual to labor. Who¬ 
ever denies this right of the individual denies the foundation on which 
the right of organized labor rests.—Lyman Abbott. The Open Shop. 

F16 (6) Presentation (a) of the effects that result from the causes 

stated in the topic, or (b) of the causes that produce the effects 
stated in the topic, or (c) a combination of cause and effect. 
The effectiveness of this method depends (1) upon the selection 
of vital causes adequate to produce the effects stated and (2) 
upon the cogency with which the cause and effect relation is 
disclosed. 

At last, however, (TOPIC) invention made another start; (CAUSE) 
and it made it by the efforts of the lay society, which rejected theocracy, 
kept the state free, and which presently discovered, one after another, 
the industries, sciences, and arts. (EFFECTS) All was renewed; 
America and the Indies were added to the map; the shape of the earth 
was ascertained, the system of the universe propounded; modern 
philology was inaugurated, the experimental sciences set on foot, art 
and literature shot forth like a harvest, religion was transformed: there 
was no province of human intelligence and action which was not refreshed 
and fertilized by this universal effort. (CAUSE) It was so great 
(EFFECTS) that it passed from the innovators to the laggards, and re¬ 
formed Catholicism in the face of Protestantism which it formed. This 
was Europe’s grand age, and the most notable epoch of human growth. 
To this day we live from its sap; we only carry on its pressure and efforts. 
—Slightly adapted from Taine’s History of English Literature. 

FI7 In independent composition a writer rarely develops a topic into 
a paragraph by the exclusive use of a single method; usually 
the character of the topic itself demands the employment of 
more than one method. For example, some part of the topic 
may require definition, or the whole topic may require limita¬ 
tion; the limited topic may then need to be supported by the 
presentation of reasons, and later to be illustrated by an exam¬ 
ple; and so on. The topic itself should determine what method 
or methods of development are to be employed and whether 
there should be more than one. 

F18 But in order to acquire familiarity with these methods—merely as 
tools—and facility in the use of them, an untrained writer may 
need practice in developing a topic into an adequate paragraph 
by a single method. He should then see to it that the material 
used actually develops the topic according to the particular 
method attempted. 


45 


PARAGRAPH UNITY 

F100 Paragraph Unity demands that every paragraph have a single, 
definite purpose; that all the sentences composing the paragraph 
be intimately connected with one another and contribute to the 
purpose of the paragraph; and that this purpose be adequately 
developed. In other words, (a) every paragraph should have a 
definite topic; (b) every sentence, every bit of material should 
aid in the development and presentation of this particular topic; 
and (c) the sum of all the sentences should be an adequate 
treatment of the whole topic. 

• FI 10 The formal sign of a paragraph is indention; that is, the beginning 
of the first line of a paragraph is set in from the left hand margin. 
Improper indention results in violation of Formal Unity of the 
paragraph. 

Fill Indenting the beginnings of mere parts of a paragraph makes 
such parts wrongly appear as whole paragraphs, (a) This 
error should be corrected in the manuscript by uniting the 
parts through placing “No at the point or points where 
division has been wrongly made, (b) If the whole para¬ 
graph as thus united has no topic sufficiently broad to cover 
the parts now grouped together, a sufficiently inclusive topic 
should be formulated and placed as nearly as is practicable 
at the head of the paragraph, (c) Division into too short 
paragraphs is irritating to the reader, and usually does not 
coincide with any significant division of the whole subject. 
Though rarely a paragraph may properly consist of a single 
sentence, yet it normally consists of a group of several sen¬ 
tences. If a writer’s practice is to mark off every two or 
three sentences as a paragraph, he may be reasonably sure 
that his practice is faulty and that he should revise his work. 

FI 12 Failure to indent the opening line of every new paragraph 
makes two or more paragraphs wrongly appear as one. (a) 
This error should be corrected in the manuscript by a proper 
division into paragraphs through placing the sign “If” at the 
point where a new paragraph really begins, (b) Unless each 
of the new paragraphs as thus constituted has a topic defi¬ 
nitely limited to cover only the material in each, a new and 
, properly restricted topic should be formulated for each, 
(c) A paragraph of too great length is difficult to read, and 
usually is an indication that the writer has not made such 
an analysis of the whole subject as to realize the stages of its 
development. If a paragraph runs to excessive length, the 
writer should determine whether the material composing it 
does not properly fall into separate sections each of which 
should be indicated as a paragraph under its more limited 
topic. 

FI 13 In dialogue, every time there is a change of speaker a new para¬ 
graph is made, and the explanatory or descriptive comment of 


46 


the writer is included in the same paragraph as the speech 
to which it applies. A paragraph in dialogue may thus con¬ 
sist of a single word, such as “Yes” or “No.” 

FI20 Failure to realize that a paragraph should (a) develop its topic 
adequately and (b) develop a definite topic results in violations 
of Logical Unity. 

F121 Probably the most frequent cause of unsatisfactory themes is 
inadequate development of the stages represented by para¬ 
graphs. An inexperienced writer is apt to do little more 
than indicate the content of these stages—provide only the 
general statements, which need to be supported by the spe¬ 
cific details, the reasons, the illustrations that would make 
his treatment vivid and satisfying. He must come to realize 
the vital necessity of fullness and concreteness of presenta¬ 
tion. After having definitely formulated the topic of a 
paragraph, he should ask himself, “What is necessary for a 
completely adequate presentation and development of this 
topic?” Nor should he be content until he has found the 
answer, and in accordance with it has composed a complete 
and well rounded paragraph. If the topic is too broadly 
stated, it should be limited; if the meaning of some part of 
it is liable to misinterpretation, it should be defined.; if a 
pertinent illustration is needed, such an illustration should 
be supplied. Probably the most common sort of topic is a 
general statement in which particular details are implied or 
specific instances are suggested; the development of a topic 
of this kind into an effective paragraph depends very largely 
upon the abundant presentation of pertinent and concrete 
instances or details. The greater interest and effectiveness 
of The Mary Wynne High School as compared with Indus¬ 
trial Efficiency (see pages 27-29,30-31) is due partly to 
arrangement of material but even more to the fact that m 
the former the general topics of the paragraphs are developed 
in full and interesting detail. Whether a paragraph is a 
composition complete in itself or is only a definite stage 
in a longer theme, it is of the highest importance that it 
should be an adequate development of its topic. (For 
various methods by which topics may be developed into 
paragraphs, see above, sections F10-F17.) 

F122 The second requirement of Logical Unity of the paragraph is 
frequently violated through a careless inclusion of material 
that does not contribute directly to the purpose of the para- 
graph—material which is plainly foreign to the topic, or 
which is only apparently relevant because it is suggested 
by something that is properly included. A writer must 
realize that an effective paragraph is not a mere collection 
of statements loosely related to one another, but that it is 
an organic development of a clearly formulated and defi- 


47 


nitely limited topic (see section F2). Throughout the com¬ 
position of a paragraph, he should keep the particular topic 
clearly in mind as his guide, and he should exclude from the 
paragraph everything that is not pertinent to this particular 
topic. 

FI23 The first of the following two paragraphs from the same assign¬ 

ment owes much of its effectiveness to arrangement and to 
abundance of vividly presented details; but it owes even 
more to the fact that every detail has been chosen for its 
pertinence to the definite topic—the bewildering rapidity of 
change in fashions for women. The second paragraph lacks 
the abundance of specific detail that marks the first and in 
addition has irritating errors; but its really fatal weakness 
is that it is merely a collection of rambling observations on 
“Fashions” instead of a development of a particular topic. 
The presumptive topic is the general realization of the 
rapidity with which fashions change. But this topic—the 
general realization—is nowhere developed. Nor is the idea 
of rapidity brought out except slightly in the third and 
fourth sentences, or even that of change except in these 
two sentences and in the next to the last. The fifth, sixth, 
and seventh sentences are wholly extraneous, the sixth and 
seventh actually implying slowness instead of rapidity of 
change. The two paragraphs illustrate both the observance 
and the non-observance of the two requirements of Logical 
Unity. 

(1) Fashions—'particularly fashions for women—change with 
bewildering rapidity. We do not have time to grow accustomed to 
one style before another has taken its place. No sooner do women 
learn to walk with the short, mincing steps required by skirts scarcely 
a yard in circumference, than skirts suddenly widen and a manly 
stride is in vogue. Hats which are smart in the fall degenerate so 
rapidly when put away for a season that by early spring they are as 
old-fashioned as anything in Godey’s Ladies’ Book , and must be 
relegated to the scrap-heap or the Salvation Army. Not only do 
styles vary from season to season, but they even change radically 
within the same season—advanced spring fashions are out of date 
long before the proverbial twenty-first of March, and styles pictured 
in November magazines have already become passe by the last of 
October. One can keep abreast of the times in nearly every branch 
of civilization, but in the matter of women’s dress it is practically 
impossible: the changes take place almost over-night. 

(2) The fact that fashions change with bewildering rapidity is 
realized by almost everyone, man, woman, and child. It has more to 
do with the fashions for women, because they are the most extreme. 
Only a very careful and keen shopper can purchase a suit in the fall 
and obtain a style that will be good the next year. Besides the 
marked changes in style from one season to the next, slighter varia¬ 
tions are continually being shown. Paris takes the lead in designing 
them and then the Americans follow suit. First New York gets the 
styles and then sends them to the other large cities, from where the 
smaller cities and towns get them at last. Some towns which are 
not near a large city are far behind other places. Fashions in 
women’s clothes are not the only kind that are changeable. A 


48 


gentleman’s hat formerly had the bow on the side, but now very often 
the bow appears in the back. It is the same with all sorts of clothing. 

PARAGRAPH COHERENCE 

F200 Paragraph Coherence demands that the sentences composing the 
paragraph be so ordered as to bring out the purpose of the 
paragraph, and so connected as to make clear the relation of 
one sentence to another. In other words, the requirement is 
(a) that the material be logically ordered so that the thought 
may move straight forward; and (b) that by the use of suitable 
forms of sentence structure and of connecting words and phrases 
the relations of the sentences to one another shall be clearly 
indicated. 

F210 Order in the paragraph, like order in the whole theme, requires 
that the material be so arranged as to make the purpose of the 
writer apparent to the reader. This requirement includes (a) 
clear recognition of the stages into which the development of 
the topic falls, and (b) arrangement of the material in each stage 
according to some definite principle of order. 

F220 The first of these complementary requirements is that in a 
paragraph developed by more than one method, each of the 
stages representing development according to a single 
method should be completed before the next stage is at¬ 
tempted. For example, if the whole paragraph includes 
definition of the topic, details implied in it, and an illustra¬ 
tion of it, the definition should be completed before the 
details are brought forward, and the stage of grouped details 
should be completed before the illustration is introduced. 

F230 The second of these requirements of order is that in a paragraph 
developed by a single method and in each stage of a complex 
paragraph the material should be arranged according to a 
single definite principle. Suggestions as to the particular 
order to be employed are given below. 

F231 (1) Narrative Order. The usual and most natural order 

for narration is chronological, according to which inci¬ 
dents or impressions are presented in the order of their 
occurrence in time. 

P232 (2) Descriptive Order. Coherence in description depends 

very largely upon rigorous adherence to a consistently 
observed principle of order, (a) One order is spatial, 
according to which objects are presented as they are 
arranged in space. They may be presented (a 1 ) by a 
consistent procedure from near to far or from far to 
near (see the paragraph by Stevenson, page 43) or (a ) 
by grouping the less striking objects about the more strik¬ 
ing. (b) A second order is chronological, according to 
which objects successively observed or impressions suc¬ 
cessively received are presented in the sequence in which 


49 


F233 


they are noted or felt. Frequently, the general impres¬ 
sion is suggested first and the details composing this 
impression are presented as they actually disclose them¬ 
selves to the senses. When descriptive details can be 
arranged according to time order, this arrangement is 
usually to be preferred, as it promotes steady forward 
movement of thought. It is particularly advisable 
whenever there is a necessary change in point of view. 

(3) In the composition of expository paragraphs a very wide 
choice of order is possible; the writer should adopt the 
particular arrangement that presents his material most 
clearly to the reader, (a) Chronological order is usually 
most natural and effective in an explanation of a process 
(see for illustration, the second paragraph of A Successful 
System of Student Government , pages 27-28, and the 
second and third paragraphs of The Mary Wynne High 
School on page 31); its effective use, moreover, is by 
no means confined to this particular variety of exposition 
(see, for example, the specimen paragraph 4 on page 44). 
In fact, this arrangement is usually to be preferred when¬ 
ever the material permits it, since it implies progression 
of thought, (b) A second order of very frequent use in 
exposition is a consistent procedure from general to par¬ 
ticular or from particular to general. There may be (b 1 ) 
a consistent gradation from general to less general to 
particular (see the first paragraph of A Successful System 
of Student Government, page 27); or (b 2 ) the general 
idea may be divided directly into the particulars of which 
it is composed (the present paragraph is ordered in this 
way), (c) A third order is that of climax, according to 
which the material is arranged to present the ideas it ex¬ 
presses in the ascending scale of their importance, logical 
or emotional. The order of climax may be effectively 
combined with that just described in (b 1 ) above, and 
whenever it is practicable, it should be followed—par¬ 
ticularly in development by the presentation of reasohs 
(see, for example, the paragraph by Lyman Abbott, 
pp. 44-45). (d) Still a fourth order is that of balance, 
according to which compared or contrasted ideas are 
set over against each other. Sometimes (d 1 ) one detail 
is immediately set over against another detail; more fre¬ 
quently and usually more effectively (d 2 ) a complete 
presentation of one side of the comparison or contrast is 
set over against a complete presentation of the other, 
corresponding details in each case being taken up in 
similar order. (For an illustration of (d 1 ) see paragraph 
a by Huxley, pp. 43-44; (d 2 ) is exemplified in paragraph 
b by Macaulay, page 44.) 


50 


F240 It is not enough that the material of which a paragraph is composed 
be coherently ordered; it is fully as important that all the ele¬ 
ments of a paragraph—the various stages and the individual 
sentences—be so connected that their relations to one another 
are made clear. To aid the reader easily to grasp the thought, 
it is especially necessary that the beginning of each important 
section of a paragraph be clearly indicated and that the logical 
relationship to the preceding material be made apparent. If 
the divisions are not clearly indicated, if the parts do not hang 
together well, if the paragraph is jerky and there is disconcerting 
interruption of the current of thought in the passage from sec¬ 
tion to section or from sentence to sentence, the necessary 
attention has not been paid to appropriate means of securing 
transition or connection. These means are in part particular 
adjustments of the sentences composing the paragraph, in part 
connective words and phrases. 

F250 The particular sentence adjustments that are most serviceable 
in securing connection are parallel construction, inversion, 
and repetition. 

F251 (a) Parallel construction gives similar structure to sentences 

having similar functions in a paragraph. For instance, a 
group of details all of which serve in the same way to 
particularize a single general statement, or a group of 
reasons all of which support in the same way a single 
general assertion should ordinarily be presented in sen¬ 
tences all of which follow the same model. (An example 
of parallel construction is that part of the fourth para¬ 
graph of A Successful System of Student Government, 
which particularizes the activity of the Department of 
Public Health in remedying details neglected by the 
authorities.) (b) The suggestion as to the use of parallel 
construction means only what is stated—that sentences 
similar in function should be made alike in form; it 
should not wrongly be taken to mean that all sentences 
in a paragraph or even that all sentences composing a 
single stage should be given similar form. Not only 
would such a construction be stupidly monotonous, but 
it might promote confusion by implying identity of 
function where no such identity existed. 

F252 (a) Repetition, as the term itself implies, is the recurrence, 

at the beginning of a new sentence, of some word or idea 
prominent in the preceding sentence. (For example, in 
the first paragraph of A Successful System of Student 
Government, “colleges” in the second sentence repeats the 
idea of “educational institutions” in the preceding sen¬ 
tence; in the third paragraph of this same theme, the last 
sentence begins with “among the offenses,” which repeats 
the idea of “violations of school law,” the closing phrase 
of the preceding sentence; and direct repetition of the 


51 


word 1 ‘department ’’ helps to connect the last sentence in 
the sixth paragraph with the sentence just before it. See 
also the last two sentences in section F240 above, and 
the e'ntire paragraph by Lyman Abbott pages 44-45.) (b) 
Exact verbal repetition should be employed but spar¬ 
ingly, and then only for a definite purpose; purposeless 
iteration of the same word, which is a sign of an inade¬ 
quate vocabulary, is excessively irritating to the reader. 
Whenever repetition is to be employed extensively, 
usually it should be in great part by means of synonyms. 
(An example of repetition by the use of synonyms instead 
of identical terms occurs in the last sentence of the third 
paragraph of A Successful System of Student Government , 
in which “offenses” is synonymous with “violations of 
school law” in the preceding sentence.) 

F253 Inversion is a transposition of some element which normally 

would come within a sentence to a position near the head 
of that sentence, in order to place it nearer to a related 
idea or element in the preceding sentence. Inversion is 
frequently accompanied by repetition, described in the 
immediately preceding section. (Inversion is illustrated 
in the final sentence of The Mary Wynne High School, 
pages 30-31. Normal sentence order is subject, verb, 
object, and the normal arrangement of this particular 
sentence accordingly would be “It accomplished this aim, 
etc.” But inversion by bringing “this aim” at the head 
of this sentence makes a close connection with the pre¬ 
ceding sentence which defines the aim. The sentences 
cited from the first and the third paragraphs of A Success¬ 
ful System of Student Government as illustrations of repeti¬ 
tion also illustrate the combination of inversion with 
repetition: the normal order of the second sentence in 
the first paragraph would be “The students in many 
colleges throughout the United States have assumed, 
etc.” and the normal order of vthe last sentence in the 
third paragraph would be “Cheating on examination 
and attempts to evade . . . are among the offenses within 
its jurisdiction.”) 

F260 Connective words and phrases used to join the sentences com¬ 
posing a paragraph indicate in general (a) continuation and 
(b) change of thought. The purpose of these connective 
elements is not simply to join two sentences but to point out 
the relation between the thought expressed in them; conse¬ 
quently in the selection of the appropriate connective ele¬ 
ments there is occasion for the exercise of discriminating 
judgment. 

F270 Some of the connectives most useful to indicate continuation 
of thought are the following, each of them marking also a 
relationship still further defined. They mark 


52 


F271 (a) Simple addition— and, also, moreover, again, further, too, 

etc. (a 1 ) And is hardly to be used as a connective be¬ 
tween two sentences except when the two are really 
co-ordinate, (a 2 ) Also or too is usually not to be placed 
at the head of its sentence but after the first important 
element; e.g., “My brother, also, was present.” 

F272 (b) A series— first, second, etc., again, finally, next, etc. 

F273 (c) Purpose— in order to, to this end, for this purpose, with 

this in view, etc. 

F274 (d) Result— therefore, hence, then, consequently, accord¬ 

ingly, etc. 

F275 (e) Identity or similarity— this, that, such, thus, etc.; (e l ) of 

time— now, meanwhile, at this moment, on such a night, 
and other phrases compounded with the simple demon¬ 
stratives cited above; (e 2 ) of place— here, there, in this 
place, and other phrases compounded with simple 
demonstratives. 

F280 Some of the connectives most useful to indicate change of 
thought are the following, each of them marking also a 
relationship still further defined. They mark 

F281 (a) Contrast or opposition— hut, however, on the other hand, 

on the contrary, yet, still, etc. 

F282 (b) Concession— although, though, nevertheless, notwithstand¬ 

ing, etc. 

F283 (c) Comparison— -similarly, equally important as, likewise, in 

similar fashion, no less remarkable than, etc. 

F284 (d) Change of time— at length, soon, thereafter, thereupon, im¬ 

mediately, etc. 

F285 (e) Change of place— there, yonder, below, above, on the other 

side, etc. 

F290 Certain violations of paragraph coherence, resulting usually from 
carelessness, demand each a particular caution. 

F291 (1) A reference word—that is, a pronoun, a pronominal adjec¬ 

tive, a relative adverb, etc.—should refer unmistakably to a 
single definitely phrased antecedent. When this antecedent 
occurs in a previous sentence, special pains must be taken to 
insure unambiguous connection between reference word and 
antecedent. (Compare sections G250-255.) Particular sug¬ 
gestions follow. 

F292 (a) The use of a pronoun with possible reference to more 

than one antecedent is to be carefully avoided. The 
reader should not be forced to waste even a moment’s 
energy in puzzling out the relation actually intended. 
Among the devices for securing explicitness of reference 
within the paragraph are (a 1 ) the use of such expressions 
as the former and the latter; (a 2 ) exact repetition of an 


53 


F293 


F294 


antecedent or use of a synonym for it. (The fifth para¬ 
graph of A Successful System of Student Government con¬ 
tains illustrations of both (a 1 ) and (a 2 ). A careless 
writer might have written as follows: 

In almost every school, unless it is of very recent construc¬ 
tion, the hallways and stairways are defective. They are often 
too narrow, are very much worn, and when used by large num¬ 
bers sway so much that their safety is at least dubious. The 
hallways of old buildings are frequently so narrow that four 
persons can hardly walk abreast in them. And they have a 
thousand or more lives daily within their walls! As a result of 
this the Department of Public Safety finds its duties. 

The writer’s success in avoiding ambiguous reference is 
apparent; he actually wrote as follows: 

In almost every school, unless it is of very recent construc¬ 
tion, the hallways and stairways are defective. The latter are 
often too narrow, are very much worn, and when used by large 
numbers sway so much that their safety is at least dubious. 
The hallways of old buildings are frequently so narrow that four 
persons can hardly walk abreast in them. And these buildings 
have a thousand or more lives daily within their walls. As a 
result of these conditions the Department of Public Safety finds 
its duties. 

The use of the latter for they in the second of these 
sentences and of these buildings for they in the fourth 
prevents any possible ambiguity. Compare also section 
G251 under Sentence Coherence.) 

(b) The antecedent of a pronoun should be a definite sub¬ 
stantive; accordingly, the pronouns it, they, this, that, etc., 
should not be used to refer to an antecedent that has been 
merely suggested or implied. When there is no definitely 
stated antecedent, a noun must ordinarily be employed 
instead of a pronoun. (See, for example, the last sen¬ 
tence of the illustration given in the preceding section 
(“this”—“these buildings”), and compare the section 
G252 under Sentence Coherence. Other illustrations 
follow: 

Vague reference.—Fashions change with bewildering rapidity. 
It is particularly true of fashions for women. 

Definite reference.—This assertion is particularly true of fashions 
for women. 

Definite reference.—The suddenness of change is particularly 
striking in the case of fashions for women. 

Vague reference.—John came in a few minutes later, looking very 
much dispirited. This surprised me, as I know that he had been 
confident of success. 

Definite reference.—His dejection surprised me, as I knew that 
he had been confident of success. 

(c) A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, 
gender, and person. Two cautions are to be especially 
observed, (c 1 ) Each, every, either, neither, one, anyone, 
anybody, some one, somebody, no one, and nobody are 
singular; consequently a pronoun having one of these as 


54 


antecedent must be singular, and usage warrants the 
masculine form unless the antecedent clearly implies a 
member of the female sex. (c 2 ) In any single passage pro¬ 
nouns referring to the same collective noun must be con¬ 
sistently singular or consistently plural. (Compare the 
corresponding section G253 under Sentence Coherence. 
The illustrations there given will show how to secure 
agreement between pronoun and antecedent.) 

(d) This and these should not be confused in use with that 
and those, now with then, or here with there; this, these, 
now, here refer to the nearer in time or space, their cor¬ 
respondents to the more distant. Now and then should 
refer to definite points of time, here and there to definite 
positions in space. 

(2) There should be no purposeless shift in the tenses of the 
verbs within a paragraph. If the paragraph presents events 
of the past time, the tense forms appropriate to past time 
should be employed consistently; if it presents instances or 
reasons as universal and not restricted in time, the present 
tense forms should be employed consistently (see J72). 

(3) There should be no unmotivated change in point of view 
within a paragraph. (For a fuller statement, applicable to 
the paragraph as well as to the whole theme, see section 
E250.) 

CONNECTION AND TRANSITION BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS 

F299 Strict logic would require that the subject of connection and transi¬ 
tion between paragraphs should come under the head of coher¬ 
ence in the whole theme, but practical considerations warrant 
treating it under the head of paragraph coherence. (See section 
E240.) In general, the problem of linking paragraph with 
paragraph is very similar to that of linking sentences: the be¬ 
ginning of every new paragraph should be so connected with 
what has preceded that there will be no disconcerting break in the 
current of thought, and the relation of ideas in two adjoining 
paragraphs or sections should be made readily apparent. There 
are four devices for securing connection and transition between 
paragraphs, which may be used either singly or in combination, 
(a) One, which is somewhat formal, is a brief summary of a 
preceding section or paragraph. (The first sentence of the 
fourth paragraph of The Mary Wynne High School, pages 30- 
31, contains such a summary.) The devices for connecting 
sentences are also used to connect paragraphs; they are (b) 
repetition (see section F252), (c) inversion (see section F253), 
and (d) connective words and phrases (see sections F260-285). 
(Repetition of 11 the president of the commission” connects the 
third paragraph of A Successful System of Student Government, 
pages 27-29, with the second, and repetition of “system” with 


F295 


F296 


F297 


55 


the connective word “this,” which marks identity, connects 
the second paragraph with the first. Inversion, to bring “this 
chief department” to the front, together with a connective word 
“second,” to mark a series, connects the fourth with the third 
paragraph of this theme. A summary, together with inversion 
and the connective phrase “in addition to,” links the fourth 
paragraph of The Mary Wynne High School, pages 30-31, with 
the third.) Usually these connective devices form only a part 
of the first sentence of a new paragraph, the whole sentence also 
stating the topic of the paragraph, (e) Sometimes, however, a 
complete sentence is necessary in order to provide adequate 
transition. Such is usually, though not invariably, the case 
when connection is to be made not simply with the preceding 
paragraph but with a section composed of a group of paragraphs. 
(A transitional sentence of this kind connects the concluding 
paragraph of A Successful System of Student Government not 
merely with the preceding paragraph but with the whole pre¬ 
ceding exposition of the system. Most frequently, as in this 
instance, a transitional sentence contains a summary of a pre¬ 
ceding section or paragraph.) (f) In a long article comprising 
several sections each consisting of several paragraphs, an entire 
transitional paragraph may be necessary to make connection 
with the preceding section and to indicate the purport of the 
following. 

PARAGRAPH EMPHASIS 

F300 Paragraph Emphasis demands that the relative importance of the 
ideas in the paragraph be made apparent by the positions in 
which they are presented, and by the extent of their develop¬ 
ment. These two phases of the general principles of paragraph 
emphasis may be called the law of Position and the law of 
Proportion. The former requires that the idea of greatest im¬ 
portance be given the position of greatest prominence; that is, 
the beginning or the end of the paragraph. Of these two posi¬ 
tions, the end is the more emphatic; it is imperative that the 
paragraph end firmly. The second law, that of Proportion, 
requires that the presentation and development of the ideas of 
the paragraph be amplified or limited in proportion to the 
importance of these ideas. 

F310 Violations of the law of Position are of two sorts: (a) presenting 
some relatively unimportant idea at the opening of the para¬ 
graph; (b) presenting some relatively unimportant idea at the 
close of the paragraph. The result in both cases is to mislead 
the reader as to the purpose of the paragraph. In either case 
the correction is to rearrange the material of the paragraph so 
as to bring the important matter into prominent position. A 
clear and well phrased statement of the topic at the outset of 
the paragraph is usually the most effective method of getting 
under way. Though an effective close may at times be secured 


56 


simply through climactic arrangement of material, which pre¬ 
sents the most significant cause, reason, etc., at the end of the 
paragraph, yet usually the most satisfactory ending—particu¬ 
larly if the paragraph is of considerable length—is a forceful and 
striking restatement of the topic idea. (For illustration of sim¬ 
ple climactic ending, see the specimen paragraphs under sections 
FI5 and Fid'as given on page 45. For illustration of topic 
restatement see the specimen paragraphs under sections F12, 
F13a, and F14 on pages 43-44.) In no case should a paragraph 
end with a single insignificant detail or a single unapplied 
instance. 

F320 Violations of the law of Proportion are also of two sorts: (a) giving 
the main idea inadequate development; (b) giving a relatively 
unimportant idea too extended development. The. result in 
both cases is to leave the reader in doubt as to what is the main 
idea, or even to make the main idea appear to him as of sub¬ 
ordinate value. Both sorts of errors are to be corrected by a 
relative limitation of the unimportant, and a corresponding 
development or presentation of the important idea. Ample 
development of the important idea is a matter of Unity as well 
as of Emphasis. If the development of the topic is really ade¬ 
quate, the most important idea will usually receive proper 
amplification. (See section F121.) 

F330 Since the effectiveness of a paragraph, as of any other connected 
piece of writing, depends largely upon its interest to the reader, 
and since interest is incompatible with monotony, variety in the 
length and structure of the sentences composing a paragraph 
may be included under the head of Paragraph Emphasis. The 
general statement is that sentences should not be wearisomely 
alike in length or in construction; they should be sufficiently 
varied as to avoid monotony of effect. A discriminating com¬ 
bination of long and short sentences and of sentences varying 
in structure promotes the effectiveness of a paragraph. (For 
illustrations of variety in sentence length and structure, see the 
paragraphs of A Successful System of Student Government , pages 
27-29.) There are three particular cautions or suggestions. 

F331 (1) Excessive use of long sentences produces not only monotony 

but heaviness and cumbersomeness of impression. If a 
paragraph suffers from this defect, the writer should break 
up some of the massed longer sentences into shorter units. 
When long sentences have been thus recast, the relations 
of the new sentences to one another should be made clear by 
means of the appropriate devices for connection. (See sec¬ 
tions F240 ff. under Paragraph Coherence.) 

F332 (2) Excessive use of short sentences produces an exasperatingly 

jerky impression. This defect, to which the work of im¬ 
mature writers is especially liable, usually results from a 
failure to observe the exact relations between the ideas 


57 


F333 


G 

G1 


expressed in the sentences, (a) Sometimes co-ordinate ideas 
are so closely related that they should be expressed in a single 
compound sentence, (b) Very frequently ideas that are 
expressed each in a separate sentence and thus represented 
as co-ordinate are not so in fact; there may be, for example, 
a principal idea which should go into a grammatically inde¬ 
pendent clause and this idea may be limited or qualified by 
others which are logically subordinate and which accordingly 
should be presented in subordinate clauses properly con¬ 
nected with the principal clause. If a paragraph consists too 
largely of short sentences, the writer should recast his ma¬ 
terial and combine his sentences in accordance with these 
suggestions (a) and (b). (Compare sections G120-G142 
under Sentence Unity.) When short sentences are com¬ 
bined, the parts of the new longer sentences must be properly 
connected. (See Sentence Coherence, particularly sections 
G240 ff.) 

Unvaried sentence structure results in monotony of impression 
and may wrongly imply that all the sentences similar in form 
have the same functions in the paragraph. (See section 
F251b.) If a paragraph suffers from monotony of sentence 
structure, the writer should introduce needed variety by 
some change in construction that coincides with some change 
in purpose or function. (The following paragraph has many 
serious errors of organization, but its most obvious weakness 
is the excessive use of short sentences unvaried in structure: 

The elm and the oak are different in almost every respect. The 
elm is shaped somewhat like a vase, wide and curved at the top 
and narrow at the bottom. The branches are curved and the ends 
droop. The trunk is bare up to the level at which it divides into 
several main branches. The tree is slender and graceful. The 
oak is thick-set, sturdy, and strong. The branches are straight 
and come out at right angles to the trunk near the ground. The 
trunk does not divide as does that of the elm. The oak is a forest 
tree and the elm is a cultivated tree. The trunk of the elm is very 
long in comparison with that of the oak. The bark of the two is 
similar. The elm has winged seeds, which are round and of a whitish 
color. The oak has acorns. The elm has clusters of reddish flowers. 
The oak has two flowers: one, a group of tassels or catkins; the other, 
small reddish balls with points. 

THE SENTENCE 

The sentence is the smallest unit of composition that can express 
a complete thought. In length, it may vary from a single word, 
such as an imperative “Come” or “Please,” or a simple “Yes” or 
“No” in response to a question, to a group of several clauses 
each containing a subject and a predicate with accompanying 
modifiers. Its actual content is to be determined by two consid¬ 
erations: (1) every sentence should be a unified whole, com¬ 
plete in itself; (2) every sentence should serve a definite purpose 
in the development of the paragraph in which it stands. The 


58 


structure of the sentence as a unit is governed by the general 
principle of Unity and the auxiliary principles of Coherence and 
Emphasis. 

SENTENCE UNITY 

G100 The general principle of Sentence Unity is divided into the com¬ 
plementary requirements of (1) Grammatical Unity, and (2) 
Rhetorical Unity, the former being concerned only with the 
correctness of the sentence as a unit of grammar, the latter with 
the effectiveness of the sentence as an expression of thought. 
Both these requirements must be taken into account; no sen¬ 
tence is satisfactory unless it is both correct grammatically and 
effective rhetorically. 

G110 Grammatical Unity demands that any group of words marked 
off as a sentence by capitalization and end punctuation be 
actually a grammatical sentence,- which can be analyzed or 
parsed as a complete and separate grammatical entity. 
In other words/ whatever is written as one sentence must 
be both (a) a complete sentence and (b) a single sentence. 
These two requisites of grammatical unity may be more 
specifically stated, (a) The first is that whatever is repre¬ 
sented as a sentence must be not merely a part of a sentence, 
not a dependent or modifying clause or group of words, but 
a grammatically complete and independent expression of 
thought. Every completely phrased sentence can, so to 
speak, stand upon its own feet; it has a principal—that is, 
not dependent or subordinate—subject and a principal 
predicate, (b) The second requisite is that two or more 
grammatically complete and independent expressions of 
thought must not be presented as a single sentence by merely 
being thrown together without proper connectives. Two or 
more such expressions of thought, each containing a princi¬ 
pal subject and a principal predicate, may correctly be 
placed in a single sentence only when they are connected by 
a co-ordinating conjunction— and, but, or, for —or when they 
are separated by a semicolon. (For the one apparent 
exception see section G113.) Failure to recognize the very 
elementary principles of grammatical unity betrays ignorance 
of the merest rudiments of composition. 

Gill Grammatical Unity is violated by presenting as a complete 

sentence what is actually only a part: for example, a 
subordinate element such as (1) an infinitive or particip¬ 
ial phrase, (2) a relative clause, (3) any dependent 
clause; or (4) a group of words that contains no subject, 
or (5) a group of words that contains no predicate. 
Such violations of grammatical unity can frequently be 
rectified by proper punctuation so as to include the parts 
with the rest of the sentence tQ which they belong; 
sometimes, however, as in the illustrations to (1), (4), 


59 


G112 


and (5) below, partial recasting of the sentence is ad¬ 
visable. 

(1) Wrong.—I would then take you to the school on west side of 
town. There to, show you the spacious grounds, the massive 
buildings, and the hundreds of lively children. 

Right.—I would then take you to the school on the west side of the 
town, there to show you the spacious grounds, the massive build¬ 
ings, and the hundreds of lively children. 

Right.—I would then take you to the school on the west side of 
the town, where I would show you the spacious grounds, etc. 
Wrong.—The noisy youngsters suddenly became quiet. Having 
caught sight of two policemen who, they felt sure, were coming 
to arrest them. 

Right.—The noisy youngsters, on catching sight of two policemen 
who they felt sure were coming to arrest them, suddenly became 
quiet. 

(2) Wrong.—After being urged for some time, he at last told me 
the true story. Which interested me greatly, as I had had much 
curiosity about the whole matter. 

Right.—After being urged for some time, he at last told me the 
true story, which interested me greatly, as I had had much curiosity 
about the whole matter. 

(3) Wrong.—I hastily swallowed a sandwich, washing it down 
with a cup of coffee, and then vigorously attacked a section of pie. 
Because I had only ten minutes in which to catch my train. 

Right.—I hastily swallowed a sandwich, washing it down with a 
cup of coffee, and then vigorously attacked a section of pie, because 
I had only ten minutes in which to catch my train. 

(4) Wrong.—I arrived at six and went at once to the hotel. After 
a bath, had a delicious dinner and later saw the best show of the 
season. 

Right—I arrived at six and went at once to the hotel. After a 
bath, I had a delicious dinner and later saw the best show of the 
season. 

(5) Wrong.—There was a moment of breathless silence. Then 
murmurs of fright, cries from the children, and muttered oaths from 
the men. 

Right.—There was a moment of breathless silence. Then followed 
murmurs of fright, cries from the children, and muttered oaths 
from the men. 

Grammatical Unity is violated by presenting as a single 
sentence two or more grammatically complete sentences 
that are not connected by co-ordinating conjunctions 
(and, but, or, for) or separated by semicolons. Some¬ 
times the error consists in running together two sentences 
with nothing or with only a comma to mark off one from 
the other. Sometimes it consists in running together 
two sentences with the second introduced by an adver¬ 
bial so, then, hence , etc., instead of by a co-ordinating 
conjunction. The comma is not a connective device, nor 
is it properly used to separate two grammatically com¬ 
plete statements. So, then, hence, thus, however, besides, 
therefore, moreover, accordingly, consequently, and never¬ 
theless are not co-ordinating conjunctions, and neither 
used alone nor following a comma are these words prop¬ 
erly employed as sentence connectives; when they are 


60 


G113 


used, they must be preceded by a true conjunction, such 
as and or but, or by a mark of punctuation as complete 
as is the semicolon. (The use of a comma—either alone 
or followed by so, then, etc.—as a sentence connective is 
frequently called the “comma blunder” or “comma 
fault”),v The kind of error treated in this section G112 
may be removed in the following ways: (1) a division into 
separate sentences, each with proper capitalization and 
end punctuation; (2) a separation of the statements by 
a semicolon; (3) a connection of the statements by a 
co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, etc.) either used 
alone or preceding so, then, hence, thus, etc.; and (4) a 
subordination of one of the statements. The particular 
correction to be made will depend upon the character of 
the logical relationship between the statements. (5) 
Except in very colloquial and informal writing so should 
rarely be employed. Ordinarily the sentence will be 
made much more effective through subordination of the 
first statement—usually, though not always, by means 
of as, since, etc.—and omission of so. (Compare sections 
G140-142.) 

(1) Wrong. —It rained so steadily during our week in camp that 
for the last three days every one of us was soaked, when the cars 
came for us we were all eager to get back home to dry clothes and 
comfortable beds. 

Improved. —It rained so steadily during our week in camp that for 
the last three days every one of us was soaked. When the cars 
came for us, we were all eager to get back home to dry clothes 
and comfortable beds. 

(2) Wrong. —He had failed in his career, failed in love, failed in 
honor; accordingly, he determined to end his worse than useless 
existence. 

Improved. —He had failed in his career, failed in love, failed in 
honor; accordingly, he determined to end his worse than useless 
existence. 

(3) Wrong. —While still very young, I became much interested 
in the lumber business, at the age of twelve I started to work in a 
lumber yard. Although too young to be a very valuable assistant, 
I could run errands and in some other ways make myself useful. 
Improved. —While still very young, I became much interested in 
the lumber business, and at the age of twelve I started to work in 
a lumber yard. Although too young to be a very valuable assist¬ 
ant, I could run errands and in some other ways make myself 
useful. 

Wrong. —He decided that he would make one more effort, then, if 
unsuccessful, that he would accept his father’s terms. 

Improved. —He decided that he would make one more effort, and 
then, if unsuccessful, that he would accept his father’s terms. 

(4, 5) Wrong. —He was again disappointed in his quest of a posi¬ 
tion so he at last decided to return home. 

Improved. —Since he was again disappointed in his quest of a 
position, he at last decided to return home. 

Improved. —Again disappointed in his quest of a position, he at 
last decided to return home. 

Note.—The one apparent—but not real—exception to the 
requirement stated in section G110 under (b) and illus- 


61 


trated in section G112 is that in a series of three or more 
grammatically independent clauses all having similar 
structure, only the last need be preceded by a conjunc¬ 
tion. Normally, a conjunction should precede the last 
member of such a series, though, rarely, the conjunction 
is omitted even before the final clause, as in the third 
sentence of the following from Macaulay's Essay on 
Milton: 

Such a spirit is liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful 
reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. 

G120 Rhetorical Unity is concerned not with mere correctness but 
with effectiveness of expression; it is partly a matter of con¬ 
tent and partly one of form. It demands (a) that every sen¬ 
tence express one principal idea, and (b) that the structure 
of every sentence make apparent both what is this principal 
idea and what is the relative importance of the subsidia^ 
elements. These two phases of Rhetorical Unity may be 
named (a) Unity of Thought or Logical Unity, and (b) 
Unity in Structure. 

G130 Unity of Thought demands that a sentence express one and 

only one principal idea. 

G131 Unity of Thought is violated by the inclusion of too little 

in a sentence, through scattering a single thought over 
two or more sentences. A properly constructed sen¬ 
tence is the expression of a complete thought. 

Bad.—To reach the university buildings, walk three blocks 
east to Chicago Avenue. Then walk directly north until you 
come to the campus. 

Improved.—To reach the university buildings, walk three 
blocks east to Chicago Avenue, and then directly north until 
you come to the campus. 

Bad.—“Get out o’ here!” The brakeman snarled these words. 
Improved.—“Get out o’ here!” snarled the brakeman. 

G132 Unity of Thought is violated by the inclusion of too much 

in a single sentence through (1) carelessly throwing 
together incongruous elements; (2) unduly prolonging 
a sentence by stringing out details. The limits of the 
sentence must not be unduly strained; the purpose of 
a single sentence is the expression of one definitely 
phrased idea. The criticism, it must be noted, is not 
simply that a sentence is too long, but that it is 
lacking in unity, in definiteness and singleness of 
purpose. When a long, disunified sentence is divided, 
the resulting shorter sentences must each express a 
complete and single unit of thought. In the illus¬ 
trative sentences marked (2) below, the first is im¬ 
proved through a separate presentation of (a) the 
training obtained in football, and of (b) the value of 
this training as preparation for life; the second is 
improved through a division that presents separately 


62 


each of the three stages in the realization of an am¬ 
bition. 

(1) Bad. —Milton’s greatest poems are Paradise Lost, L’Alle¬ 
gro, II Penseroso, and Lycidas, and he died in 1674 when he 
was sixty-two years old. 

Improved. —Milton’s greatest poems are Paradise Lost , 
L’AllegYo, II Penseroso, and Lycidas. He died in 1674, when 
he was sixty-two years old. 

(2) Bad. —The game of football trains the player to habits 
of alert observation, quick thought, and prompt action, and 
thus does much to fit him to win success in life, and it also 
develops the strength of body which should accompany sound¬ 
ness of mind. 

Improved. —The game of football develops the strength of 
body which should accompany soundness of mind, and trains 
the player to habits of alert observation, quick thought, and 
prompt action. Thus it does much to fit the player to win 
success in life. 

(2) Bad. —After receiving my degrees of B.A. and LL.B., I 
intend to get a position if possible under a corporation or in a 
law firm in some large city, and to work hard and after a 
number of years to rise and become head of the firm or attorney 
for the corporation, and I even have the ambition at last to 
become a justice of the Supreme Court of the state. 

Improved. —After receiving my degrees of B.A. and LL.B., 
I intend, if possible, to get a position under a corporation or 
in a law firm in some large city. There I expect to work hard, 
and after a number of years I hope to rise and become head 
of the firm or attorney for the corporation. I even have the 
ambition at last to become a justice of the Supreme Court of 
the state. 

Unity in Structure demands that a sentence be so con¬ 
structed as to make apparent what is its principal idea 
and to show the relative importance of the subordinate 
elements. The principal idea of a sentence should be 
expressed as a grammatically independent statement— 
a so-called “principal clause”—and the subsidiary ideas 
should be so phased as to show their subordinate 
character. 

The chief offense against Unity in Structure is a careless 
construction of a sentence which does not make the 
main idea stand out clearly. The most distressing ex¬ 
ample of this kind of carelessness is a long strung-out 
series of statements joined by the co-ordinating con¬ 
junctions and, but, and for, all the statements being 
thus made to appear of equal consequence. If a 
writer will consider a sentence of his that contains 
more than one clause, usually he will recognize that 
not all the ideas expressed in the various clauses are 
co-ordinate; he will see that one of these ideas is most 
important and that logically the others group them¬ 
selves about it in some qualifying relationship— 
causal, temporal, conditional, etc. If he is accurately 
to convey his intended meaning, he must make the 


G142 


G143 


main idea stand out, by phrasing it as a grammati¬ 
cally independent statement, and he must make clear 
the exact relations of the subsidiary ideas by phrasing 
them as subordinate elements properly connected 
with the principal statement. The “bad” sentences 
below are merely groups of independent statements 
•loosely joined by co-ordinating conjunctions; in the 
“improved” versions there is in each sentence only 
one principal statement, about which are grouped 
various subordinate elements. 

Bad.—The weather at this season of the year is very pleasant 
and it makes one wish to be out of doors all the time. 
Improved.—The weather at this season of the year is so 
pleasant that it makes one wish to be out of doors all the time. 
Bad.—My theme was not finished at the right time, for I had 
been sick, but I had previously worked faithfully and so had 
made a good impression upon my instructor, and on account 
of this he accepted my paper. 

Improved.—Although on account of my illness my theme was 
not finished at the right time, still my previous faithful work 
had made such a good impression upon my instructor that he 
accepted my paper. 

Bad.—The performance was really very interesting and or¬ 
dinarily it would have thrilled Annie, but this time she sat 
listlessly, for all her interest was absorbed in plans for the 
next evening. 

Improved.—Throughout the performance, which was* really 
very interesting and ordinarily would have thrilled Annie, she 
sat listlessly, her interest wholly absorbed in plans for the next 
evening. 

A second offense against Unity in Structure is illogical 
subordination of the principal idea. The principal 
idea of a sentence should be expressed in a principal, 
grammatically independent statement. In the illus¬ 
trative sentence below, the principal idea is that “his 
boat was capsized and he was thrown into the sea;” 
this serious misadventure, accordingly, should not be 
presented in a dependent clause introduced by a sub¬ 
ordinating conjunction, but in the principal statement 
of the sentence. 

Bad.—He had gone but a short distance from the shore when 
his boat was capsized by an enormous wave and he was thrown 
into the sea. 

Improved.—When he had gone but a short distance from the 
shore, his boat was capsized by an enormous wave and he was 
thrown into the sea. 

Note.—Unity of Thought and Unity in Structure are so 
closely related that frequently a sentence apparently con¬ 
taining incongruous elements (see section G132) may be 
corrected by a subordination of one of its elements so 
that the sentence contains only one principal statement; 
for example: 

Bad. North Carolina is my native state, and it extends five 
hundred miles east and west from the sea to the mountains. 


64 


Improved.—North Carolina, my native state, extends five hundred 
miles east and west from the sea to the mountains. 

Moreover, since Unity in Structure depends upon the 
arrangement of the sentence, it is intimately related to 
sentence Coherence. (See sections G200ff., particularly 
G221.) - 

SENTENCE COHERENCE 

G200 Sentence Coherence requires that the structure of a sentence and 
the arrangement and phrasing of the parts be such as to make 
perfectly clear the purpose of the whole sentence and the relation 
of the various parts to one another. In the following sections 
are suggestions and illustrations to aid in securing coherence 
in the sentence. 

G210 The parts of the sentence must be so ordered that the ideas will 
be expressed in logical sequence. 

Bad.—On the West Side is a district consisting principally of flat 
buildings, though here and there a little house snuggled between them 
sits far back from the street, while the flats extend almost to the curb. 
Improved.—On the West Side is a district consisting principally of flat 
buildings which extend almost to the curb, though here and there a 
little house snuggled between them sits far back from the street. 

G220 Similarity of thought or function should be indicated by simi¬ 
larity of form and arrangement. (Compare section F251.) 

G221 The device of parallel structure is most serviceable in making 

sentences coherent, closely knit, and effective; conse¬ 
quently, needless and confusing shifts of construction 
are to be carefully avoided. The most frequent shifts of 
this kind are the following: interchange of (1) phrase 
with clause, (2) infinitive with participial phrase, (3) 
single word with phrase or clause, (4) principal with 
dependent clause, (5) dependent clause of one kind 
with dependent clause of a different kind, (6) any element 
with a relative clause preceded by and or but (the 11 and 
which” construction), (7) active with passive voice of the 
verb, (8) change of subject or point of view, (9) change 
of tense or wrong sequence of tenses. One may easily 
avoid most of these shifts if he will see to it that the co¬ 
ordinating conjunctions— and, but, or —are both followed 
and preceded by the same kind of construction. (See 
section G241.) 

(1) Bad.—I had heard of his service in the army and that he had 
been a gallant soldier. 

Improved.—I had heard that he had served in the army and had 
been a gallant soldier. 

Improved.—I had heard of his service in the army and of hi 
gallantry as a soldier. 

(2) Bad.—He had trained himself in writing effectively and to 
speak as carefully as he wrote. 

Improved.—He had trained himself in writing effectively and in 
speaking as carefully as he wrote. 


65 


Improved.—He had trained himself to write effectively and to 
speak as carefully as he wrote. 

(3) Bad.—He expected compliance with all his requests and to 
have all his whims humored. 

Improved.—He expected all his requests to be complied with and 
all his whims to be humored. 

Improved.—He expected compliance with all his requests and 
indulgence of all his whims. 

(4) Bad.—My hardest study is Mathematics, which I have never 
liked, and now I dislike it more than ever. 

Improved.—My hardest study is Mathematics, which I have never 
liked and now dislike more than ever. 

Improved.—My hardest study is Mathematics, which I have never 
liked and which I now dislike more than ever. 

(5) Bad.—Some people make you feel as if they really appreciate 
your efforts, and that the little things you have done are just what 
they have most wished you to do. 

Improved.—Some people make you feel that they really appreciate 
your efforts, and that the little things you have done are just what 
they have most wished you to do. 

(6) Bad.—This article, on account of conditions in Mexico, and 
which purports to be based on first-hand observation, really pre¬ 
sents only half-truths. 

Improved.—This article, which is an account of conditions in 
Mexico and which purports to be based on first-hand observation, 
really presents only half-truths. 

Improved.—This article, an account of conditions in Mexico, pur¬ 
porting to be based on first-hand observation, really presents only 
half-truths. 

(7) Bad.—He and his mother went to the play together, and it 
was very much enjoyed by both of them. 

Improved.—He and his mother went to the play together and both 
enjoyed it very much. 

(8) Bad.—Bulbs should be planted about a foot deep and then you 
must cover them very carefully. 

Improved.—Bulbs should be planted about a foot deep and then 
carefully covered. 

Bad.—One does not like to be watched constantly even if you do 
not wish to “crib.” 

Improved.—One does not like to be watched constantly even if one 
does not wish to “crib.” 

(9) Bad.—The porter rushed in and yells that I had passed my 
station. 

Improved.—The porter rushed in and yelled that I had passed my 
station. 

A corollary to the principle of parallel structure as stated 
above is the requirement that sentence elements of the 
same rank and function should be placed together. For 
example, if a sentence consists of a principal clause and 
two dependent elements similarly modifying it, both the 
dependent elements should be placed before the principal 
clause or both should be placed after it. Naturally, the 
same principle holds in a sentence consisting of two 
principal clauses qualified by a single dependent element. 
Bad.—Although two years younger than his brother, he was 
mentally much more alert and advanced, though physically less 
active and vigorous. 

Improved.—Although two years younger than his brother and 
physically much less active and vigorous, he was mentally much 
more alert and advanced. 


Bad.—Mild weather would not be so late in appearing, if it were 
not for the chilling winds from the lake, and the baseball team 
could get into better trim before the opening of the season. 
Improved.—If it were not for the chilling winds from the lake, 
mild weather would not be so late in appearing and the baseball 
team could get into better trim before the opening of the season. 

G223 Much the same effect as that of a faulty shift of construction 

is produced by tagging on a detail, with some such loose 
connective as also, to a series of similar details that ap¬ 
parently has been completed already. The tag gives the 
effect of a postscript. Details of the same kind should be 
similarly ordered. 

Bad.—When the barges drew near, there sounded a clash of battle 
axes and rattle of spears, also fierce shouts of fighting men. 
Improved.—When the barges drew near, there sounded a clash of 
battle axes and rattle of spears and fierce shouts of fighting men. 

G230 The parts of the sentence must be so placed that there will be no 
ambiguity of meaning and no disconcerting interruption of 
thought. 

G231 Modifiers should be so placed that there can be no doubt as 

to what they modify—usually as near as possible to the 
words they modify. 

Bad.—He is as vigorous and active as he was forty years ago, 
almost. 

Improved.—He is almost as vigorous and active as he was forty 
years ago. 

Bad.—He declared that he had told the truth after a moment's 
hesitation. 

Improved.—After a moment's hesitation, he declared that he had 
told the truth. 

G232 In most instances only should be placed immediately before 

the word it qualifies. 

Bad.—After four months I gave up my job, as I was only getting 
four dollars a week and saw no hope of an increase. 

Improved.—After four months I gave up my job, as I was getting 
only four dollars a week and saw no hope of an increase. 

G233 Such restrictive words and phrases as indeed, certainly, at 

least, in any case, should be so placed as to qualify unmis¬ 
takably a single element of the sentence. In the exam¬ 
ples given below, shifting the position of at least attaches 
to it wholly different parts of the sentence. 

Example.—This story, at least, was as plausible as the first. 
Example.—This story was at least as plausible as the first. 
Example.—This story was as plausible as the first at least. 

G234 A participle, like an adjective, should not be used unless 

clearly related, both grammatically and logically, to a 
substantive in the same sentence. The same rule usually 
applies to a gerund (a verbal noun in -ing) when it is the 
object of a preposition. As a participle or a gerund nor¬ 
mally attaches itself to the subject of the verb in the 
principal sentence, the sentence must be so constructed 
that there can be no conflict of grammatical with logical 


67 


G235 


relationship. Errors in the relation of participles may be 
corrected by (a) making the logical subject of the par¬ 
ticiple the grammatical subject of the sentence, (b) 
changing the participle into a finite verb, (c) changing 
the participial phrase into a prepositional phrase, (d) 
completely recasting the sentence. 

Bad.—-He became seriously ill, caused by the shock and the ex¬ 
posure. 

Improved.—(c) In consequence of the shock and the exposure he 
became seriously ill. 

Improved.—(d) The shock and the exposure made him seri¬ 
ously ill. 

Bad.—Coming in from play one afternoon, my mother found it 
necessary to scrub my hands and face. 

Improved.—(b) When I came in from play one afternoon, my 
mother found it necessary to scrub my hands and face. 

Bad.—Having missed my car, it was too late for me to get to my 
eight o’clock class. 

Improved.—(a) Having missed my car, I was too late for my 
eight o’clock class. 

Improved.—(b) As I had missed my car, I was too late for my 
eight o’clock class. 

Bad.—The soil is ploughed and harrowed twice, thus making it 
ready for the seed. 

Improved.—(a) The soil is made ready for the seed by being 
ploughed and harrowed twice. 

Improved.—(d) The soil is ploughed and harrowed twice, and is 
thus made ready for the seed. 

Bad.—The sound b is made by firmly compressing the lips, which 
are suddenly opened, making an explosive sound. 

Improved.—(d) The sound b is an explosive sound, made by the 
speaker’s first compressing his lips firmly and then opening them 
suddenly. 

Bad.—In clearing his desk of the accumulated papers, the docu¬ 
ment was at last found. 

Improved.—(a) In clearing his desk of the accumulated papers, 
he at last found the document. 

Improved.—(b) While he was clearing his desk of the accumu¬ 
lated papers, he at last found the document. 

Objectionable in much the same way as are the “dangling” 
or “misrelated” participles discussed above, is the “dang¬ 
ling” or “misrelated” use of due , of elliptical phrases or 
clauses similar in character to participial phrases, and, 
indeed, of any modifying element. 

Bad.—He had fallen behind in his payments on the mortgage, due 
to his enforced idleness during the strike. 

Improved.—Because of his enforced idleness during the strike, he 
had fallen behind in his payments on the mortgage. 

Bad.—Although completely aware of the danger, foolhardiness 
prevented my calling for assistance. 

Improved.—Although completely aware of the danger, I was too 
foolhardy to call for assistance. 

Improved.—Although I was completely aware of the danger, my 
foolhardiness prevented my calling for assistance. 

Bad.—As promoter of the plan, most of the responsibility fell on 
his shoulders. 

Improved.—As promoter of the plan, he had to bear most of the 
responsibility. 


68 


Improved.—As he was the promoter of the plan, most of the 
responsibility fell on his shoulders. 

Bad.—Apparently motionless, the only indication of the speed 
with which the keen-edged blade revolves is the delicate shaving 
which curls up from the cork that is being cut. 

Improved.—Apparently motionless, the keen-edged blade revolves 
so rapidly that the only indication of its speed is the delicate 
shaving which curls up from the cork that is being cut. 

G236 In general, elements that have a close grammatical connec¬ 

tion should not be unnecessarily separated. This princi¬ 
ple forbids, for example, any needless separation of (a) a 
subject from its verb or a verb from its object, (b) the 
parts of a compound verb form, (c) the infinitive sign to 
from the infinitive itself, and (d) a reference word from 
its antecedent (see section G255). The observance of 
these prohibitions will do much to prevent the interjec¬ 
tion of abrupt and unnecessary parenthetical expressions. 

(a) Bad.—I received many years later, long after I had forgotten 
the incident, the amount of the loan with interest accurately 
computed. 

Improved.—Many years later, long after I had forgotten the 
incident, I received the amount of the loan with interest accurately 
computed. 

(b) Bad.—When he had, through the practice of the most rigid 
economy, got together the required sum, the book was gone. 
Improved.—When, through the practice of the most rigid economy, 
he had got together the required sum, the book was gone. 

(c) Bad.—I do not wish to needlessly alarm you. 

Improved.—I do not wish to alarm you needlessly. 

G240 Words or phrases used to connect different parts of the sentence 
should show clearly the relations of these parts to one an¬ 
other. Co-ordinating conjunctions, and, but, for, or, connect 
elements of logically equal rank; that is, any one of them 
may connect either two grammatically independent clauses 
or two dependent elements of the same kind. No co¬ 
ordinating conjunction, however, should be employed to 
connect two sentence elements of dissimilar kind or of un¬ 
equal rank. Subordinating conjunctions, if, though, since, 
because, etc., connect subordinate clauses with independent 
clauses. These conjunctions should be so employed as to 
make clear the exact relationship of the subordinate to the 
principal statement. In the immediately following sections 
are given suggestions as to the proper use of conjunctions. 
G241 A co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or) should not be 

used to connect sentence elements of logically unequal 
rank or dissimilar kind. (See also sections G141 and 
G221.) 

Bad.—They were very weak because their food had not been 
wholesome and it had not been abundant either. 

Improved.—They were very weak because their food had been 
neither wholesome nor abundant. 

Bad.—The work takes a great deal of time, and the precise number 
of hours depending upon the worker’s strength and skill. 
Improved.—The work takes a great deal of time, the precise num¬ 
ber of hours depending upon the worker’s strength and skill. 

69 


G242 


G243 


G244 


G245 


G246 


A subordinating conjunction should not be used to introduce 
the logically principal statement. (See also section 
G142.) 

Bad.—I was dozing off to sleep when just then my roommate 
rushed in with the cry that the house was on fire. 

Improved.—Just as I was dozing off to sleep, my room-mate 
rushed in with the cry that the house was on fire. 

And should not be confused in force or meaning with but; 
and connects similar elements by way of addition, but, by 
way of subtraction or opposition. 

Bad.—I had carefully considered just how I would answer him, 
and when he came, I forgot all that I had planned to say. 
Improved.—I had carefully considered just how I would answer 
him, but when he came, I forgot all that I had planned to say. 

While is a subordinating temporal conjunction; accordingly 
it should not be wrongly used for (a) such co-ordinating 
conjunctions as and and but or (b) such subordinating 
conjunctions as though and whereas, which do not express 
temporal relations. 

Correct.—While we were waiting for our train, we talked over the 
situation and easily came to an understanding. 

(a) Incorrect.—On one side of the street are the “shacks” of the 
men, while on the other are the quarters for the officers. 

Correct.—On one side of the street are the “shacks” of the men, 
and on the other are the quarters for the officers. 

(b) Incorrect.—While he was somewhat slow-going, he was such a 
steady worker that his weekly record was usually better than that 
of almost everyone else. 

Correct.—Though he was somewhat slow-going, he was such a 
steady worker that his weekly record was usually better than that 
of almost everyone else. 

Frequently, in long or involved statements, it is necessary to 
employ both terms of a correlative pair such as although — 
yet, not only — but also, etc. 

Bad.—Although I knew that we were in great danger of an attack 
by the natives and realized that my life and the lives of my friends 
depended upon my wakefulness, I was so sleepy that more than 
once I caught myself nodding. 

Improved.—Although I knew that we were in great danger of an 
attack by the natives and realized that my life and the lives of my 
friends depended upon my wakefulness, still, I was so sleepy that 
more than once I caught myself nodding. 

Such correlatives as either — or, neither — nor, not only — but 
also should be followed by the same parts of speech. 

Bad.—I found that either I should have to earn more or spend les§. 
Improved.—I found that I should have either to earn more or to 
spend less. 

Bad.—This misfortune not only wiped out all my earlier profits 
but most of my capital too. 

Improved.—This misfortune wiped out not only all my earlier 
profits but most of my capital too. 

Improved.—This misfortune not only wiped out all my earlier 
profits but depleted my capital too. 


70 


G247 


G248 


G250 


G251 


G252 


When two or more similar subordinate clauses depend upon 
the same principal statement, it is usually advisable to 
repeat the conjunction before each subordinate clause. 
Bad.—He felt that he had been shamefully neglected by those who 
called themselves his friends, and he had been allowed to suffer 
because they had been too self-engrossed to observe his needs. 
Improved.—He felt that he had been shamefully neglected by 
those who called themselves his friends, and that he had been 
allowed to suffer because they had been too self-engrossed to ob¬ 
serve his needs. 


In a series of three or more similar elements, usually the last 
member of the series is preceded by and, but, or or. The 
conjunction is but rarely omitted before the last member 
of such a series. (See section G113.) 

Example.—“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his countrymen.” 

A reference word—that is, a pronoun, a pronominal adjective, 
a relative adverb, etc.—should refer unmistakably to a par¬ 
ticular antecedent, and within a single sentence should al¬ 
ways refer to the same antecedent. The following cautions 
and suggestions are to aid in securing clearness and explicit¬ 
ness of reference. (Compare sections F291-295.) 

The use of a pronoun with possible reference to more than 
one antecedent should be avoided with extreme care. A 
pronoun is subconsciously referred to the most prominent 
preceding noun; accordingly, it should not be forced to 
refer to a noun that is subordinate in thought or syntax, 
as, for instance, is a noun in the genitive (possessive) 
case, or the object of a preposition. Careless use of the 
personal pronouns, he, she, it, and the plural they, is a 
very frequent cause of vagueness. Among the devices 
for securing exactness of reference are (a) the substitu¬ 
tion of direct for indirect quotation; (b) repetition of the 
antecedent or use of a synonym for it; and (c) the use of 
the former and the latter. 

Bad.—Henry’s uncle died when he was seventeen years old. 
Improved.—When Henry was seventeen years old, his uncle died. 
Bad.—He said to his father that since he had suffered a similar 
accident in his boyhood, he thought that he should have cautioned 


Improved.—(a) He said to his father, “Since you suffered a similar 
accident in your boyhood, I think that you should have cau- 


Bad.—Puzzled as to the meaning of the note, he stopd for a mo¬ 
ment gazing into the fire; then, after looking at it again, he 
crumpled it up and threw it into it, watching it curiously until it 

consumed it. , „ , 

Improved.—(b) Puzzled as to the meaning of the message, he 
stood for a moment gazing into the fire; then, after looking at the 
note, he crumpled it up and threw it into the flames, watching it 
curiously until it was consumed. 

The antecedent of a pronoun should be a definite substan¬ 
tive; accordingly, the pronouns, they, this, that, etc., 


71 


should not be used to refer to an antecedent that has been 
merely suggested or implied. When there is no definitely 
stated antecedent, a noun must ordinarily be employed 
instead of a pronoun. 

Bad.—He asked that he might be allowed to explain, but it was 
denied him. 

Improved.—He asked that he might be allowed to explain, but his 
request was denied him. 

Bad.—He sprained his ankle, which kept him out of the games. 
Improved.—He sprained his ankle, an accident which kept him 
out of the games. 

Bad.—I went to the drug store for some boric acid, but they did 
not have it. 

Improved.—I went to the drug store for some boric acid, but the 
druggist did not have it. 

Improved.—I went to the drug store for some boric acid, but 
there was none in stock. 

Bad.—Waste of money on expensive dancing parties is discounten¬ 
anced, and the same is true of other similar kinds of entertainment. 
Improved.^—Waste of money on expensive dancing parties and 
on other similar kinds of entertainment is discountenanced. 

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, 
and person. Three cautions are to be especially observed, 
(a) Each, every, either, neither, one, any one, anybody, 
some one, somebody, no one, and nobody are singular; con¬ 
sequently a pronoun having one of these as antecedent 
must be singular, and usage warrants the masculine form 
unless 'the antecedent clearly implies a member of the 
female sex. (b) In any single passage, pronouns referring 
to the same collective noun must be consistently singular 
or consistently plural, (c) Complementary to the re¬ 
quirement as to consistency of agreement between a 
collective noun and any pronoun referring to it, is the 
requirement that a verb form having for its subject a 
collective noun or a pronoun referring to such a noun, 
must be consistently singular or consistently plural. 
(See section J68.) 

Wrong.—The fly is having a hard time just now; whoever sees them 
takes time to “swat” them. 

Right.—The fly is having a hard time just now; whoever sees one 
takes time to “swat” it. 

(a) Wrong.—England expects every man to do their duty. 

Right.—England expects every man to do his duty. 

Wrong.—If anybody calls, tell them that I’ll return by four o’clock. 
Right. If anybody calls, tell him that I’ll return by four o’clock. 

(b) Wrong.—At a later meeting, the Board rescinded its former 
action and asked that they be relieved from any further respon¬ 
sibility. 

Right.—At a later meeting, the Board rescinded its former action 
and asked that it be relieved from any further responsibility. 

Right. At a later meeting, the Board rescinded their former action 
and asked that they be relieved from any further responsibility. 
Wrong. If the team wins to-morrow’s game, as it is expected to 
do, they can have anything in college they want. 

Right. If the team wins to-morrow’s game, as it is expected to do, 
every man on it can have anything in college he wants. 


G254 


G255 


G260 


G261 


G262 


(c) Wrong.—At the yards the cars are put on side tracks, and then 
the train crew is through with their day’s work. 

Right.—At the yards the cars are put on side tracks, and then the 
train crew is through with its day’s work. 

Right.—At the yards the cars are put on side tracks, and then the 
train crew are through with their day’s work. 

A pronoun should not be used before its logical antecedent 
has been stated. 

B a( j # —The members of the faculty are so friendly that although 
they may have hated their former teachers, still, just as soon as 
they reach this school, the new students feel that they shall like 
these teachers. 

Improved.—The members of the faculty are so friendly that 
although the new students may have hated their former teachers, 
yet, just as soon as they reach this school, they feel that they shall 
like these teachers. 

A reference word, particularly a relative pronoun, should not 
be unnecessarily separated from its antecedent. 

Bad.—He had been under the careful guidance of his father until 
he became a man, who had always shielded him from every harmful 

Improved.—Until he became a man, he had been under the careful 
guidance of his father, who had always shielded him from every 
harmful influence. , . ,, 

Bad.—There is a work engine in every coach yard that places tne 
suburban cars on the proper track. . , 

Improved.—In every coach yard there is a work engine that places 
the suburban cars on the proper track. 


Failure to repeat words and phrases where repetition is neces¬ 
sary to make clear the relation between parts of the sentence, 
and omission of parts of the sentence that cannot be exactly 
supplied from the context are frequent sources of incoherence 
in the sentence. Particular cautions and illustrations follow. 


A subject consisting of several co-ordinate members should 
usually be repeated in a summarizing word or phrase. 
Example.—To rise before dawn, to work fourteen or fifteen hours 
with only a brief intermission at noon, to swallow hastily ill-cooked 
food, to sleep on hard boards under filthy and insufficient cover¬ 
ings—these, he found, were the pleasures of country life in the 
harvest season. 


Usually, in order to secure clearness, (a) a preposition gov¬ 
erning several objects, or (b) the sign to introducing 
several infinitives should be repeated when the objects or 
the infinitives are separated by intervening modifiers. 

(a) Bad.—He forgets the gratitude that he owes to those who 
helped all his companions, and his uncle in particular. 

Improved.— He forgets the gratitude he owes to those who helped 
all his companions, and to his uncle in particular. 

(b) Bad—Near the end of the term, we were requested to hand 
in our notes and all the themes he had returned to us, and state 
precisely how much of the required reading we had done. 
Improved.—Near the end of the term, we were requested to hand 
in our notes and all the themes he had returned to us. and to state 
precisely how much of the required reading we had done. 


73 


G263 


G264 


G265 


G266 


In certain cases, repetition is used to indicate that the words 
in a series represent each a markedly distinct idea, (a) 
An article or a possessive pronoun should be repeated 
with each noun when the nouns designate different 
things. Similarly, repetition (b) of a preposition with 
each object, or (c) of the sign to with each infinitive calls 
attention to the fact that each object or each infinitive 
represents a separate idea. 

(a) Bad.—His duty and inclinations urged him in contrary direc¬ 
tions. 

Improved.—His duty and his inclinations urged him in contrary 
directions. 

Bad.—He was sitting between a pretty and ugly girl. 

Improved.—He was sitting between a pretty and an ugly girl. 

(b) Example.—“For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in 
sickness and in health.” 

(c) Bad.—To live and live well are very different things. 
Improved.—To live and to live well are very different things. 

(a) So, such, and too as adverbs and (b) that or those as 
demonstrative pronoun or adjective usually imply a 
completing or defining clause to follow; the use of these 
forms without such a following clause is to be avoided. 

(a) Bad.—I was so tired. 

Improved.—I was so tired that I could not sleep. 

Improved.—I was extremely tired. 

(b) Bad.—It was one of those long and stupid lectures. 

Improved.—It was one of. those long and stupid lectures under 
which the class occasionally has to groan. 

Improved.—The lecture was very long and stupid. 

No form of a verb should be omitted unless the same form is 
clearly and exactly supplied elsewhere in the sentence. 

Bad.—He always had done what he thought was right, and I 
knew that he always would. 

Improved.—He always had done, and I knew that he always 
would do what he thought was right. 

Improved.—He always had done what he thought was right, and 
I knew that he always would do so. 

Bad.—The leader was expelled from the school and the others sus¬ 
pended for six weeks. 

Improved.—The leader was expelled from the school and the others 
were suspended for six weeks. 

Words necessary to an idiomatic combination should not be 
omitted. 

Bad* I was attracted to the school by the reports and the pictures 
I saw of it. 

Improved.—I was attracted to the school by the reports I heard 
and the pictures I saw of it. 

Bad.—The Senate was in sympathy, but the House was opposed 
to the objects of the measure. 

Improved.—The Senate was in sympathy with the purpose of the 
measure, but the House was opposed to it. 

Bad.—Evanston is an attractive place to live. 

Improved.—Evanston is an attractive place in which to live. 

Bad.—Florida has a climate to enjoy out of doors life in winter. 


74 


’G267 


G270 

G271 

G272 

G273 


Improved.—Florida has a climate in which one may enjoy out of 
doors life in winter. 

Improved.—Florida has a climate that enables one to enjoy out of 
doors life in winter. 

(a) The conjunction that should not be omitted from a clause 
expressing result or purpose, (b) Similarly that intro¬ 
ducing a noun clause should not be omitted if the omis¬ 
sion would result in ambiguity or incoherence. 

(a) Bad.—I was so tired after the day’s tramp I could hardly crawl 
into my bunk. 

Improved.—I was so tired after the day’s tramp that I could 
hardly crawl into my bunk. 

(a) Bad.—I have found it a good plan to keep a dictionary on my 
desk so I can refer to it when I am in doubt. 

Improved.—I have found it a good plan to keep a dictionary on 
my desk so that I can refer to it when I am in doubt. 

(b) Bad.—He perceived in the course of a few minutes he could 
not count on assistance from this group. 

Improved.—He perceived in the course of a few minutes that he 
could not count on assistance from this group. 

Bad.—-The truth was, as the newspapers showed later, the governor 
signed the bill under pressure from the political spoilsmen. 
Improved.—The truth was, as the newspapers showed later, that 
the governor signed the bill under pressure from the political 
spoilsmen. 

Comparisons form an especially fruitful source of incoherence 
in the sentence. It is more feasible to illustrate particular 
cases than to formulate any general statement of principle, 
(a) After a comparative the subject of the comparison 
should be excluded from the class with which it is com¬ 
pared; (b) after a superlative the subject of the compari¬ 
son should be included within the class. 

(a) Wrong.—This country manufactures twice as many cigarettes 
as any country. 

Right.—This country manufactures twice as many cigarettes as 
any other country. 

(b) Wrong.—He was the heaviest of all the other candidates for 
the team. 

Right.—He was the heaviest of all the candidates for the team. 

In comparisons, expressed or implied, only objects of the 
same kind should be compared. 

Bad.—English colonial policy has been more successful than the 
Germans. 

Improved.—English colonial policy has been more successful than 
that of the Germans. 

Improved.—English colonial policy has been more successful than 
German colonial policy. 

Bad.—The laws of Illinois concerning divorce differ considerably 
from South Carolina. 

Improved.—The laws of Illinois concerning divorce differ consider¬ 
ably from those of South Carolina. 

Usually after than or as the verb or its equivalent or the 
preposition should be repeated. 

Bad.—I saw him more frequently than you. 

Improved.—I saw him more frequently than you did. 


75 


Improved.—I saw him more frequently than I saw you. 

Bad.—She likes me as well as you. 

Improved.—She likes me as well as you like me. 

Improved.—She likes me as well as she likes you. 

G274 A comparison should not be left incomplete; usually clear¬ 

ness demands that both the object compared and the 
standard of comparison be definitely stated. 

Vague.—He was somewhat slow in all his studies, but he had better 
success in mathematics. , J 

Clear.—He was somewhat slow in all his studies, but he had better 
success in mathematics than in any other subject. 

Clear.—He was somewhat slow in all his studies, but he had better 
success in mathematics than the coach had expected. 

G275 In a a “mixed comparison”—for example, a comparison 

which involves different degrees or which includes both 
singular and plural substantives—usually the first mem¬ 
ber of the comparison should be completed. 

Bad.—She is as active or more so than her brother. 

Improved.—She is as active as her brother, or even more so. 

Bad.—This defeat was one of the keenest, if not the keenest, dis¬ 
appointments of his whole life. 

Improved.—This defeat was one of the keenest disappointments of 
his whole life, if not indeed the keenest. 

G280 The principal causes of incoherence that remain to be con¬ 
sidered may be classified as merely awkward or careless 
constructions. To these the following cautions apply: 

G281 (3) Avoid overlapping or “telescoped” constructions. 

Bad.—I went to sleep at once, for I was very tired, for I had worked 
hard all day. 

Improved.—I went to sleep at once, for my hard day’s work had 
made me very tired. 

Bad.—This story, which recounts the adventures which befell two 
boys who had been captured by Indians who were lurking in the 
neighborhood, is merely a “ten cent thriller.” 

Improved.—This story, a narrative of the adventures befalling two 
boys who had been captured by Indians lurking in the neighbor¬ 
hood, is merely a “ten cent thriller.” 

G282 Avoid careless multiplication of negatives, particularly in 

connection with such restrictive words as hardly and 
scarcely. 

Bad.—The plan was found to be not only not impracticable but 
not difficult of execution. 

Improved.—The plan was found to be both practical and easy of 
execution. 

Bad.—The night was so dark that we could not hardly see the 
wagon in front of us. 

Improved.—The night was so dark that we could hardly see the 
wagon in front of us. 

Bad.—His story was so plausible that the teacher could not help 
but believe it. 

Improved.—His story was so plausible that the teacher could not 
help believing it. * 

G283 Avoid using in a single sentence words having the same form 

but different meanings or functions. 


76 


Bad.—He discussed the tariff, stating emphatically that he con¬ 
sidered that the principal issue of the campaign. 

Improved.—He discussed the tariff, stating emphatically that he 
considered it the principal issue of the campaign. 

Bad.—The subject was debated at length, but the disputants 
talked nothing but words. 

Improved.^-The subject was debated at length, but the disputants 
talked only empty words. 

G284 Avoid contradictory or incongruous statements and ambigu¬ 

ous or equivocal phrasing; a sentence should state clearly 
and exactly the meaning of the writer. Particularly 
objectionable is a fumbling circumlocution instead of a 
direct and precise definition. 

Bad.—A “circumlocution” is when one expresses himself in an 
indirect and roundabout manner. 

Improved.—A “circumlocution” is an indirect and roundabout 
expression. 

Bad.—All this year most of the meals consisted of queer dishes 
containing wheat, sugar, and meat substitutes. 

Improved.—All this year most of the meals consisted of queer 
dishes containing substitutes for wheat, sugar, and meat. 

Bad.—Everybody in the class was present and had such a good 
time that no one missed the few disgruntled ones who had stayed 
away. 

Improved.—Almost everybody in the class was present and had 
such a good time that no one missed the few disgruntled ones who 
had stayed away. 

Bad.—The most exciting event of all was when the teachers began 
to distribute the presents. 

Improved.—The most exciting moment of all came when the 
teachers began to distribute the presents. 

Improved.—The most exciting event of all was the distribution of 
the presents by the teachers. 

G285 Avoid any awkward arrangement of the sentence—any care¬ 

less construction or lack of order that may offend the 
reader or hinder his ready perception of the idea the 
sentence is intended to convey. 

SENTENCE EMPHASIS 

G300 Sentence Emphasis demands that a sentence be so constructed 
that its main idea shall stand out clearly and that, so far as 
possible, its various parts shall be given prominence in propor¬ 
tion to their importance. In many respects the requirements of 
Unity, Coherence, and Emphasis in the sentence are identical. 
(See particularly sections G140-143 and G220-223.) Emphasis 
in the sentence depends principally upon (a) the form of the 
sentence, (b) the relative position of its parts, and (c) relative 
condensation or expansion of expression. 

G310 Sentence emphasis requires that the sentence, by its form, shall 
make clear what is the principal idea and give it due promi¬ 
nence. 

G311 The principal idea of the sentence should be expressed as a 

grammatically independent statement. (See sections 
G140-142.) 


77 


G312 


G313 


G314 


G315 


The use of the active rather than the passive form of the 
verb contributes to directness and hence, usually, to 
vigor and emphasis of expression. 

Unemphatic.—After dinner, Luna Park was visited by the party 
and a good time was had by everybody. 

Improved.—After dinner, the party visited Luna Park where 
everybody had a good time. 

Periodic sentence structure holds the reader’s attention in 
suspense and finally concentrates it on the element of 
greatest significance, by placing this element at the end 
and placing the dependent and qualifying elements before 
it. 

Loose.—One may be permitted to find the marriage theory of 
Catholicism refreshing and elevating, when one looks, for instance, 
at the English Divorce Court, with its crowded trials, its news¬ 
paper reports, and its money compensation—this institution in 
which the gross unregenerate British Philistine has indeed stamped 
an image of himself. 

Periodic.—“When one looks, for instance, at the English Divorce 
Court, with its crowded trials, its newspaper reports, and its money 
compensation—this institution in which the gross unregenerate 
British Philistine has indeed stamped an image of himself—one 
may be permitted to find the marriage theory of Catholicism 
refreshing and elevating. ,, —Slightly adapted from Arnold’s The 
Function of Criticism. 

Balanced sentence structure throws into strong relief simi¬ 
larity or antithesis of ideas by giving likeness of form to 
the expression of these ideas. The effect of the balance 
depends very largely upon the degree of similarity in form 
given to the two halves of the sentence. 

Example.—Thus the Puritan was made up of two different men— 
the one all self-abasement, penitence, gratitude, passion, the 
other proud, calm, inflexible, sagacious. He prostrated himself 
in the dust before his Maker; but he set his foot on the neck of 
his king. 

Climactic sentence structure is a consistent arrangement of 
the elements of the sentence in an ascending series, the 
order of each element being determined by its relative 
weight and significance. The principle of climax applies 
both to thought and to phrasing. In the latter case, it 
requires usually that (a) the positive should follow the 
negative, the particular should follow the general, etc., 
and (b) that where other considerations of greater 
moment do not appear, the longer, more sonorous ele¬ 
ments should follow the shorter, less weighty. 

Example.—“Your children do not grow faster from infancy to man¬ 
hood than they [the American colonists] spread from families to 
communities, and from villages to nations.”—Burke. Speech on 
Conciliation with America. 

(b) Poorly ordered.—The plan is easy of comprehension and 
simple. 

Improved.—The plan is simple and easy of comprehension. 

78 


G316 


G320 

G321 


G322 


G323 


Note.—Balance, periodicity, and climax are principles as 
important in giving coherence as in giving emphasis to 
the sentence. Excessive employment of balanced or 
periodic sentences, however, gives an appearance of 
effort and artificiality, and is on this account objection¬ 
able. On the other hand, climax, if not obviously 
forced, is logical and natural. 

Sentence emphasis requires that elements of the sentence be 
given prominence of position corresponding to their impor¬ 
tance. 

The most prominent positions in the sentence are' at the 
beginning and at the end; accordingly an element of the 
sentence may be made emphatic by being given one of 
these positions, particularly that at the end. The sen¬ 
tence should at least “end with words that deserve dis¬ 
tinction.’ ; 

Bad.—The paper was so carelessly written that it was illegible in 
places. 

Improved.—The paper was so carelessly written that in places it 
was illegible. 

Bad.—We were very much attracted by the picture of him, and 
were, accordingly, somewhat disappointed in his appearance when 
we met him. 

Improved ( picture and appearance emphasized).—The picture of 
him attracted us greatly; accordingly when we met him, we were 
somewhat disappointed in his appearance. 

Improved ( attractive and disappointing emphasized).—So attractive 
was the picture of him that when we met him we found his ap¬ 
pearance somewhat disappointing. 

The converse of the immediately preceding rule is that un¬ 
important elements of the sentence should not be made 
unduly emphatic by being given the most prominent 
positions; they should “be buried within the sentence.” 
This rule generally applies to such connectives as how¬ 
ever, moreover, consequently; to such restrictive phrases as 
so to speak, in fact; and to such clauses as I think, I 
understand, when they are used parenthetically. 

Wrong emphasis.—However, the truth of this statement did not 
long remain unchallenged. 

Improved.—The truth of this statement, however, did not long 
remain unchallenged. 

Wrong emphasis.—This is the most satisfactory solution of the 
problem, I believe. 

Improved.—This, I believe, is the most satisfactory solution of the 
problem. 

Any element of the sentence, if changed from its normal 
position, is made conspicuous and is thereby given 
emphasis. 

Normal order.—The brightly lighted shop windows next attracted 
her attention. 

Transposition of brightly lighted. —The shop windows, brightly 
lighted, next attracted her attention. 

Transposition of next. —Next, the brightly lighted shop windows 
attracted her attention. 


79 


G330 Sentence emphasis requires that the more important ideas be 
given the fuller expression and the less important ideas 
be condensed in expression. 

G331 Especially important ideas or words may be given emphasis 

by repetition. 

Example.—“For the creation of a masterwork of literature two 
powers must concur, the power of man and the power of the 
moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.”— 
Arnold, The Function of Criticism. 

Example.—“The people of the colonies are descendants of Eng¬ 
lishmen. . . . They are, therefore, not only devoted to liberty, 
but to liberty according to English ideas and on English princi¬ 
ples.”—Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America. 

G332 Every word used in the sentence should serve a definite pur¬ 

pose; mere verbiage should be rigorously cut out. 
Wordiness in the sentence may be (a) tautology, the un¬ 
necessary repetition of ideas, or (b) redundancy, the 
needless addition of words here and there. The most 
frequent form of redundancy is “‘excessive predica¬ 
tion”—the use of superfluous verbs, particularly of such 
introductory forms as there is, it is, etc. In many in¬ 
stances, too, a relative clause may be reduced to a par¬ 
ticipial phrase with considerable gain in effectiveness. 

(a) Bad.—The enemy, again repeating their former tactics, re¬ 
treated back to their fortified camp. 

Improved.—The enemy, repeating their former tactics, retreated 
to their fortified camp. 

Bad.—The cause of their rapid progress was because they had 
been preparing for this attack during many years. 

Improved.—The cause of their rapid progress was that (or “the 
fact that”) they had been preparing for this attack during many 
years. 

(b) Bad.—There is a friend of mine who declares that it is only 
the love he has for children that keeps alive his interest in Christ¬ 
mas. 

Improved.—A friend of mine declares that only his love for children 
keeps alive his interest in Christmas. 

Bad.—The game was a hard fought and most interesting one. 
Improved.—The game was hard fought and most interesting. 

Bad.—The suburban train service, on most railroads, is a subject 
which is very interesting for a person to learn something about. 
Improved.—The suburban train service, on most railroads, is a 
very interesting subject. 

Relative clause.—It surely was good to sit down to a table which 
, was covered with country butter, fresh eggs, home-smoked ham, 

and lots of real cream. 

Participial phrase.—It surely was good to sit down to a table 
covered with country butter, fresh eggs, home-smoked ham, and 
lots of real cream. 

H DICTION 

In the last analysis, expression is the use of words; accordingly, a 
writer's ability to convey his meaning to his readers, to affect them as he 
wishes them to be affected, depends in great measure upon his ability to 
select precise and appropriate words. The criteria of diction are (a) the 

80 


propriety and (b) the effectiveness of the word or phrase employed; that 
is, a word should not offend against the canons of Good Use, and it should 
convey precisely and effectively the meaning intended by the writer. 
H10 The canons of Good Use are three: that an expression be (1) in 
Present Use, (2) in National Use, and (3) in Reputable Use. 
The first of these requirements forbids the employment of a 
word that is archaic to-day no matter how many and how 
great writers used it fifty or a hundred or three hundred years 
ago. The second requirement is that an American should prefer 
American to British usage, wherever the two differ, and that he 
should avoid expressions that are current only in some part or 
parts of his country. The last requirement is that both the 
words used and the senses in which they are used should be 
those established by the practice of careful and reputable 
writers. The general standard of Good Use in this country is 
set by American writers of to-day in the carefully edited maga¬ 
zines and reviews. The violations of Good Use are so numerous 
that only a few of those most frequently occurring can be 
illustrated. 

0 

Hll Avoid loose, undiscriminating application of words. Examples 

of such misapplication are the following: (a) the use of 
anxious for eager or interested, fix for repair or contrive, 
aggravate for annoy or exasperate, mad for angry, stop for 
stay, expect for suspect or imagine or anticipate; (b) the use 
of never for not, and that of nice, awful, etc., with such a wide 
variety of application as to take from these words almost 
all precision of meaning; (c) confusion of words etymologi¬ 
cally related, as are affect and effect, most and almost, healthy 
and healthful, and confusion of such partial synonyms as 
proof and evidence, fluid and liquid; (d) lack of precision in 
the use of such words as factor, element, point, force, con¬ 
dition, feature. 

H12 Be sure that the preposition used expresses the exact relation¬ 
ship intended. In and within, in and into, by and with, 
round and around, to and toward or towards, among and 
between are among the prepositions most frequently misused 
one for the other. 

H13 Since (a) archaic, (b) technical, and (c) learned or bookish words 
are not readily intelligible to a reader whose interests are not 
specialized but normal, they should be avoided in ordinary 
prose. Archaic words may still have a place in the language 
of poetry and technical words are appropriate to the pres¬ 
entation of a technical subject before a professional au¬ 
dience, but the use of bookish words can hardly be justified 
in any serious writing. 

(a) Example. —God wot, yclept, let (meaning “hinder”). 

(b) Example.—“In some instances, eo ( io ) which resulted from the 
breaking of e before h +consonant becomes ie ( i, y ). This process 


81 



t-umlaut. . .. 

Bad.—“Indubitably, benignity and commiseration shall pursue me all 
the diutumity of my vitality.” „ , , 

Good.—Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days ol 
my Hfe. 

H14 Foreign words are objectionable both because they are not 
generally intelligible and because they are usually evidence 
of affectation. A foreign word is appropriate only where 
there is no native equivalent. 

Bad.—In the course of the trial, it appeared that the soi-disante 
countess, who had been received en amie by many members of the 
beau monde, had previously been a jille de chambre. 

Improved.—In the course of the trial, it appeared that the woman 
who called herself a countess and who had been admitted to the inti¬ 
macy of many fashionable people had previously been a chambermaid. 

H15 In ordinary prose the use of (a) slang, (b) words newly coined 
and not yet current in careful writing, (c) vulgar or cheap 
expressions, and (d) localisms or provincialisms that have 
only a restricted currency usually indicates either that a 
writer has a vocabulary wretchedly inadequate to his needs 
or that he has no regard for his reader’s probably decent 
taste. Special circumstances, such as the desire to report a 
conversation in the actual words of a speaker or to secure 
local color justify the use of slang or provincial expressions, 
but such usage should result only from considered intention 
—not from carelessness or poverty of speech. 

(a) Bad.—I got the tip in time to make a date for the same evening. 
Improvement.—I got the hint in time to make an appointment (or 
engagement) for the same evening. 

Bad.—I played my hunch that Allison had worked his prof to spill all 
the dope on that subject. 

Improved.—I acted on my intuition that Allison had induced his 
instructor to give him complete information on that subject. 

(b) Bad.—The grafters did not suspicion any opposition to their design 
of railroading the bill through the legislature. 

Improved.—The dishonest politicians did not suspect (or anticipate) 
any opposition to their design of rushing the bill through the legislature. 

(c) Bad.—We want live young party with good line of talk to handle 
book proposition and to take part interest in same. 

Improved.—We want an energetic young man or woman of good 
address to manage a book business and take a part interest in it. 

(d) Bad.—There was a beautiful timber on a side-hill near my home. 
Improved.—There was a beautiful stretch of woodland on a hillside 
near my home. 

Bad.—The revenuers caught him toting corn to a blockade still. 
Improved.—The revenue officers caught him carrying corn to an un¬ 
licensed distillery. 

H16 In all but very familiar writing, in which colloquial usages may 
be appropriate, abbreviations and contractions should 
usually be avoided; advertisement is preferable to ad, trig¬ 
onometry to trig, gymnasium to gym, English Literature to 
English Lit, half-past two to two thirty, do not and cannot to 


82 


don’t and can’t. Such a contraction as ain’t for am not is 
never permissible. 

H17 One part of speech should not unadvisedly be used for a differ¬ 
ent part of speech: for example, the verb find should not 
be used as a noun, the transitive verb leave should not be 
used intransitively, the noun loan should not be used for the 
verb lend, an adjective should not be used for an adverb 
in such an expression as “He can do it more easily (not 
“easier”) than I can,” and so on. (See section J41.) 

H18 Many expressions widely current, some of which are permissible 
in colloquial speech, are to be avoided in careful and 
serious writing. Among them are (1) you and they as imper¬ 
sonal pronouns without particular antecedents; (2) dove and 
proven for dived and proved; (3) complected for complexioned 
or of . . . complexion; (4) ways for way or distance; (5) 
nights for at night; want to off or want to in for wish to get off 
or wish to go in; (7) go some place for go to some place or go 
somewhere, find it any place for find it in any place or find it 
anywhere; (8) that kind of a man, that sort of a job for that 
kind of man or a man of that kind, that sort of job or a job 
of that sort. Other similar usages, generally improper, are 
the following: (9) the redundant use of go and in such an 
expression as “They have gone and broken their promise” 
for “They have broken their promise”; (10) try and for try to 
in such an expression as “I will try and find him” for “I will 
try to find him”; (11) myself, himself, etc., as subject or 
object in such a sentence as “Both my friend and myself dis- 
' trusted him” for “Both my friend and I distrusted him/’ 

H19 Some errors are so gross as to be marks of illiteracy. Such are, 
for instance, hisself and theirselves for himself and them¬ 
selves; drownded for drowned; had of and could of for had and 
could have in such a sentence as “If I had of seen him in 
time, I could of stopped him” for “If I had seen him in time, 
I could have stopped him”; had ought to for ought to or ought 
to have in “You hadn’t ought to do it,” for “You ought not 
to do it,” or “You ought not to have done it.” 

H20 Good use requires that words and phrases be used in accord 
with the recognized idiom of the language. 

H21 Such idiomatic distinctions as those indicated in the follow¬ 

ing pairs of phrases should be carefully observed: go to 
town, go to the city; able to do, capable of doing; agree to a 
proposal, agree with a person; to avert from, aversion to; 
to differ with a person, different from; each other, when 
only two are concerned, one another when more than two 
are concerned. 

H22 Regard for idiomatic distinctions requires that so instead of 

as should be used before the first member of a comparison 


83 


of equality that contains or implies a negation or a 
restriction; for example, 

He was not so keen as his brother but he was a harder student. 

The people will have to submit to this abuse of power only so 
long as they are willing to submit to it. 

H23 Like is grammatically an adjective or an adverb; it is not a 

conjunction and cannot properly be used for as or as if 
to introduce a comparative clause. 

Correct.—He looks like a capable workman. 

Incorrect.—He acted like he was afraid to fight. 

Correct.—He acted as if he was afraid to fight. 

H24 Three expressions frequently used are objectionable on the 

score of idiom, (a) The first is the so-called nominative 
absolute; for example, “The storm having ceased, we 
were able to resume our journey.” More idiomatic and 
more exact is, “After the storm had ceased, we were 
able,” etc., or “Since the storm had ceased, we were 
able,” etc. (b) The second is the adjectival use of the 
relative pronoun which ; for example, “He gave us an 
account of his early experiences on the western frontier, 
which narrative recalled similar stories we had heard from 
our grandmother.” More idiomatic is, “He gave us an 
account of his early experiences on the western frontier, 
a narrative which recalled,” etc. (c) The third is the use 
of compound nouns awkwardly built up according to 
German not English idiom; for example, “a water filled 
ditch” instead of the easier and more natural “a ditch 
filled with water.” 

H25 The idiomatic distinction between a and an as the indefinite 

article is that a is used before a word that has an initial 
consonant sound, an before a word that has an initial 
vowel sound. Many words beginning with the character 
u are preceded by a, as in English the character u fre¬ 
quently has the sound yu—a united people, a useful tool 
(but an unpleasant experience , an ugly scar). Further, a 
is used before many words of Greek origin with initial 
eu—a European power , a euphonious phrase. 

H30 Three further cautions or suggestions mainly concerning propriety 
in usage, for the sake of convenience, may be grouped together. 

H31 Certain distinctions, more or less sharply drawn, between related 

words or between different forms of the same word should 
be carefully observed, since failure to do so results both in 
violation of Good Use and in lack of precision. The most 
important of such distinctions are those between (a) simple 
and progressive tense forms of the verb, (b) simple and 
cumulative or inchoative verbs, (c) collective or class nouns 
• and common or individual nouns, (d) active and passive 
meanings of synonymous words, and (e) abstract and con¬ 
crete meanings of the same word or synonymous words. 


84 


(a) Poor.—All the time they searched for him, he watched them from 
his hiding-place behind the fence. 

Improved.—All the time they were searching for him, he was watching 
them from his hiding-place behind the fence. 

(b) Bad.—Gradually, as he was more interested in the work, it was 
easier. 

Improved.—Gradually, as he became more interested in the work, it 
grew easier. 

(c) Bad.—The various militia of the state were ordered into camp. 
Improved.—The various militia organizations of the state were ordered 
into camp. 

Improved.—The militia of the state was ordered into camp. 

(d) Inaccurate.—His courage preserved his spirit unbroken through all 
his misfortunes. 

Precise.—His fortitude preserved his spirit unbroken through all his 
misfortunes. 

(e) Example (abstract meaning).—“At last his merit (that is, the 
quality that made meritorious action possible) won recognition. 
Example (concrete meaning).—At last his merits (that is, his various 
meritorious acts or accomplishments) won recognition. 

H32 When figurative language is employed, the figures used must 
both fit the context and be congruous with themselves. 
“Mixed metaphors” are particularly to be avoided. 

Mixed figure.—For many years he struggled desperately against the 
billows of adversity, but he finally planted his banner on the hill of 
success. 

Improved.—After many years of desperate struggle against adversity, 
he finally won success. 

Mixed.—To make the April allowance last until the first of May is a 
problem difficult of attainment. 

Improved.—How to make the April allowance last until the first of 
May is a problem difficult of solution. 

Improved.—To make the April allowance last until the first of May is 
an undertaking difficult of accomplishment. 

H33 When there is the slightest doubt as to the use or meaning of a 
word, a recent, adequate, and reputable dictionary should 
be consulted. 

H40 The choice of word and phrase that will convey the writer’s mean¬ 
ing precisely and effectively, that will produce upon the reader 
the very effect desired, is a matter of much greater difficulty and 
of much higher importance than the mere avoidance of offenses 
against Good Use. Very rarely is there any conflict between 
propriety and effectiveness, but if there should be, the latter 
must be considered first; to attain a particular end, a writer 
may deliberately violate the canons of Good Use. But any 
such disregard of accepted standards should be carefully con¬ 
sidered and should be only for the attainment of a particular 
purpose. Diction to be effective must be chosen with consistent 
regard for the character of the composition, the purpose of the 
writer, and the appreciation of the reader. 

H41 Words should express the precise degree of meaning intended; 

that is, except for the attainment of some definite purpose, 
both exaggeration and understatement should be avoided. 


85 


H42 Verbosity is to be avoided. No more words should be used 
than are necessary to develop adequately the purpose of the 
composition. (See section G332.) 

H43 Effective diction is fresh and suggestive; the first step toward 
attaining it is to discard stale, trite, hackneyed expressions, 
such as the trend of public sentiment, the signs of the times, 
the weaker sex, rippling waves, doomed to disappointment, 
social function. 

H44 Specific words represent particular impressions upon the senses 
and the emotions more definitely and exactly than do gen¬ 
eral terms, and consequent^ they appeal more distinctly 
and vividly to the imagination of the reader. In narration 
and description particularly, effectiveness depends very 
largely upon skilful selection of concrete details and upon the 
choice of specific words by which to present them. For ex¬ 
ample, a specific verb, such as toddle, saunter, sidle, stride, 
represents a particular kind of movement more exactly and 
picturesquely than the general go can do with any number of 
qualifying adverbs. The effectiveness of exposition and 
argument, too, may frequently be heightened by the use of 
particular details and specific terms. Definite dates and 
exact figures are both more precise and more forceful than 
are mere approximations, and the particular name of an 
object is more definite and more effective than is generalized 
thing. 

General.—There was such activity that one might have thought the 
viands very unusual, phenomena quite unparalleled; and in truth they 
were nearly so in that place. While several persons made the prepara¬ 
tions for the meal, the others expectantly seated themselves. At last, 
everything was ready and the grace was said. As the carving of the 
fowl began, every one expressed great delight. 

Specific.—“Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a 
goose the rarest of all birds, a feathered phenomenon, to which a black 
swan was a matter of course—and, in truth, it was something very 
like it in that house. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy (ready before¬ 
hand in a little saucepan) hissing hot; Master Peter mashed the pota¬ 
toes with incredible vigor; Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce: 
Martha dusted the hot plates; Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a 
tiny corner at the table; the two young Cratchits set chairs for every¬ 
body; not forgetting themselves, and mounting guard upon their posts, 
crammed spoons into their mouths lest they should shriek for goose 
before their turn came to be helped. At last the dishes were set on 
and the grace was said. It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as 
Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to 
plunge it into the breast; but when she did, and the long expected 
°f stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all around 
the board; and even Tiny Tim, excited by the two young Cratchits, 
beat on the table with the handle of his knife, and feebly cried, Hur¬ 
rah!”—Dickens, A Christmas Carol. 

H45 Care should be taken not to use too simple, superficial, or collo¬ 
quial words, and thus lower the diction beneath that proper 
to the character of the composition (“writing down”). 


86 


H46 


Care should be taken not to raise the diction above that appro¬ 
priate to the character of the composition by the use of (a) 
pretentious, bookish, or high-sounding words (fine writing, 
bombast) or (b) poetic or archaic words or forms. 

(a) Example.—“Witness the immense pomposity of sesquipedalian 
verbiage.”—SpShcer. 

Bad. —After performing his ablutions, he arrayed himself in his every¬ 
day clothes and descended to breakfast. 

Improved.—After his bath, he dressed in his everyday clothes and went 
down to breakfast. 

(b) Examples of poetic or archaic words that are out of place in 
ordinary prose are ere for before, save for but or except, maiden for girl 
or young woman, morn for morning, eve for evening, etc. 

EUPHONY 

H50 Euphony requires that the words of a composition be so chosen 
and ordered that they shall not strike the ear disagreeably. 
The principal suggestions for securing Euphony are the follow¬ 
ing: 

H51 Avoid needless or meaningless repetition of words or sounds. 

Bad. —The workmen were busily at work in the hall until noon. But 
at the first stroke of noon from the town clock, each man instantly 
dropped his work. . 

Improved.—The plasterers and carpenters were busily engaged m the 
hall until noon. But at the first stroke of twelve from the town clock, 
each man instantly dropped his work. 

Bad. —The expenses of the trip were somewhat in excess of our ex¬ 
pectations. 

Improved.—The trip cost somewhat* more than we had expected. 

H52 Avoid harsh combinations of sounds. 

Bad.— Mr. Stevens stood stock still, though he closed his huge hand 
more firmly about his stout stick. 

Improved.—Mr. Stevens stood motionless, though he closed his enor¬ 
mous hand more firmly over his stout cudgel. 

H53 Avoid the huddling effect produced by a succession of unac¬ 

cented syllables. 

Bad. —He has conducted himself eminently trustworthily. 

Improved.—He has conducted himself in a most trustworthy manner. 

H54 Avoid metric effects in prose. 

Bad. —All along the river bank the blossoms grew in countless numbers, 
and every day the lovely girl went there to pick a bunch of pretty 
flowers. 

J GRAMMAR 

Although most offenses against grammar may be logically classified 
under other headings, still, from practical considerations, it is advisable to 
group under a separate heading the principal matters of grammar that 
require particular care. 

J10 With respect to nouns and pronouns the principal concern of gram¬ 
mar is with (a) number and kind, and (b) with case. 

J20 The most important cautions and suggestions concerning num¬ 

ber in nouns and pronouns are the following: 


87 


J21 


Be careful with foreign and irregular plurals. 

Example.— Phenomenon, phenomena; alumnus, alumni; alumna, 
alumnae; crisis, crises; datum, data; species, species; index, indexes, 
indices; cloth, cloths, clothes; die, dies, dice, etc. 

J22 The demonstrative adjectives this, that and their plurals 

these, those are pronominal in origin and partly in char¬ 
acter. Like pronouns, they have different forms for the 
singular and the plural. Do not use the plural forms 
these and those with singular nouns. 

Bad.—Work on these kind of exercises tires me. 

Improved.—Work on exercises of this kind tires me. 

Improved.—Work on this kind of exercise tires me. 

J23 Make the pronoun agree with its antecedent in number and 

land. The restrictive relative pronoun that is used to 
refer to both persons and things; of the other relative 
pronouns, who should be used to refer to persons, which 
to refer to things. (For illustrations of agreement be¬ 
tween pronoun and antecedent, see section G253.) 

J30 The most important suggestions concerning case in nouns and 

pronouns are the following: 

J31 Use the possessive instead of the nominative case form with 

verbal nouns in -ing. 

Wrong.—She tried to pass the note without the teacher seeing it. 
Right.—She tried to pass the note without the teacher’s seeing it. 

J32 Confine the possessive case form principally to animate 

objects and to idiomatic time expressions. 

Bad.—The room’s ceiling is discolored in many places. 

Improved.—The ceiling of the room is discolored in many places. 
Bad.—These circumstances, whose importance he had not per¬ 
ceived at first, now made him change his plans. 

Improved.—These circumstances, the importance of which he 
had not perceived at first, now made him change his plans. 
Correct.—In two days he spent half his month’s pay. 

J33 Adapt the case form of a pronoun to the actual case. Mere 

separation of a pronoun from the verb of which it is the 
subject, or from the verb or preposition of which it is the 
object does not affect case relation and consequently does 
not affect case form, (a) The subject of a finite verb 
should have the nominative case form, (b) The subject 
of an infinitive should have the objective case form, 
(c) The object of a verb or a preposition should have the 
objective case form. 

(a) Wrong.—Whom do you believe will be elected? 

Right.—Who do you believe will be elected? 

Wrong.—I will give it to whomever first asks for it. ' 

Right.—I will give it to whoever first asks for it. 

(b) Wrong.—Who do you expect to see elected? 

Right.—Whom do you expect to see elected? 

(c) Wrong.—Who did they invite? 

Right.—Whom did they invite? 

Wrong.—Between you and I—■ 

Right.—Between you and me— 

Wrong.—There had been some friction among we girls. 

Right.—There had been some friction among us girls. 

88 


The principal cautions or suggestions relating to adjectives and 
adverbs are the following: 

Wherever corresponding adjectives and adverbs have dif¬ 
ferent forms, the distinction in form should be carefully 
observed.^ If there is any doubt whether a given form is 
an adjective or an adverb, a reputable dictionary should 
be consulted, (a) An adjective is used as a direct modi¬ 
fier of a noun or pronoun and as the predicate comple¬ 
ment—modifying the subject—of the verbs be, become, 
seem, look, sound, appear, smell, feel, and taste, (b) An 
' adverb is used as a modifier of verbs, adjectives, and 
adverbs, (c) Most is frequently misused for almost. 
Most is used as an adjective or an adjective pronoun to 
mean “nearly all,” as in “The price of most commodities 
has doubled within the last five years,” and in “Most of 
my friends tried to dissuade me.” As an adverb, most 
is used only to indicate the superlative degree—“It was 
the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen.” Almost 
is always an adverb meaning “nearly” or “not quite,” as 
in the following: “We were almost (not “most”) too late 
for dinner”; “It rained almost (not “most”) every day”; 
“He had thought that the task would be almost impos¬ 
sible, but he found it very easy.” 

(a) Wrong.—The flower smells sweetly. 

Right.—The flower smells sweet. 

Wrong.—After such a heavy dinner, he soon felt very uncom¬ 
fortably. 

Right.—After such a heavy dinner, he soon felt very uncom¬ 
fortable. . . 

(b) Wrong.—By this time he had become real interested in his 
work. 

Right.—By this time he had become really (or “thoroughly”) 
interested in his work. 

Wrong.—We were told to handle them as gentle and easy as we 
could. 

Right.—We were told to handle them as gently and easily as we 
could. 

Be logical and careful in the use of comparative and super¬ 
lative forms, (a) Use the comparative for two objects 
or classes, the superlative for more than two. (b) Do 
not try to compare absolute forms that admit of no com¬ 
parison. (c) Avoid double comparatives, (d) After a 
comparative, exclude the subject of comparison from the 
class with which it is compared; after a superlative, 
include the subject within the class, (e) Be careful to 
use properly the endings -er, -est and the adverbs more, 
most. 

(a) Example.—Of the three boys, John was the oldest; and of the 
twins, William was larger than James. 

(b) Bad.—Poe holds a most unique place in American letters. 
Improved.—Poe holds a unique place in American letters. 

(c) Bad.—This book is more preferable than that. 


J43 

J50 

J60 

J61 

J62 


J63 

J64 

J65 


Improved. —This book is preferable to that. 

(d) Bad. —This country manufactures twice as many cigarettes 
as any country. 

Improved. —This country manufactures twice as many cigarettes 
as any other country. 

Bad. —He was the heaviest of all the other candidates for the team. 
Improved.—He was the heaviest of all the candidates for the team. 

(e) Bad. —It was the awkwardest moment of my life.. 

Improved. —It was the most awkward moment of my life. 

Do not use an adverb of degree—for example, so, very, too 
—to modify directly a past participle. 

Wrong.—I am very pleased to see you again. 

Right. — I am very much pleased to see you again. 

Wrong. —Mary seemed very excited. 

Right. —Mary seemed greatly excited. 

With respect to verbs, the principal concern of grammar is with 

(a) the agreement of verb with subject in person and number, 

(b) the choice of tense forms, (c) the use of the auxiliaries shall 
and will. 

Make the verb agree with its subject in number and person. 
With a simple subject, the verb agrees invariably (though 
sometimes logically rather than grammatically) with the 
subject in number and person, and all colloquial excep¬ 
tions are objectionable. 

Wrong.—I says, he don’t, we was, you was, they was. 

Right. —I say, he doesn’t, we were, you were, they were. 

In general a word that has the same form for both singular 
and plural is singular when it designates a science, a body 
of knowledge, or a class of activities; it is plural when it 
designates a number of individual acts or accomplish¬ 
ments. 

Example. —Mathematics is a difficult subject for a great many 
students. 

Example. —Politics has been studied as a science since the days of 
Aristotle. 

Example. Politics in school affairs are always detrimental to edu¬ 
cational progress. 

Each, every, either, neither, etc. (see section G253a) are 
singular. 

Wrong. —Every one of them suit me perfectly. 

Right. —Every one of them suits me perfectly. 

A verb having for its subject a collective noun should be (a) 
singular if the group is regarded as a unit, (b) plural if 
the members of the group are considered as individuals. 
(See section G253b.) 

(a) Example. —The faculty has adopted a new measure for the 
control of athletics. 

(b) Example. —The faculty have their biases for or against com¬ 
pulsory studies just as have the students. 

Normally, (a) when the subject consists of two or more sub¬ 
stantives connected by and, the verb is plural; (b) when 
the subject consists of two or more singular substantives 


90 


J66 


J67 


J68 


J70 

J71 


disjoined by or (nor), the verb is singular; (c) when the 
subject consists of a singular and a plural substantive dis¬ 
joined by or (nor), the verb agrees with the nearer sub¬ 
stantive. 

(j), E xam Pje» Threat of retaliation and the immediate execution 
or the threat were most alarming. 

(b) Example.—The President of the United States or the President 
oi b ranee is equally acceptable as mediator. 

(c) Example. Neither the captain nor the coaches and trainers 
are directly responsible for the failure of the team. 

Usually the number of the subject, and hence of the verb, 
is not affected by the number of substantives (a) in an 
interpolated or modifying phrase or clause, or (b) in a 
predicate complement. 

(a) Wrong. The sheriff, as well as the officers of the military 
company, were notified. 

Right. The sheriff, as well as the officers of the military company, 
was notified. 

(b) Wrong. His later successes is the result of his invincible 
energy. 

Right. His later successes are the result of his invincible energy. 
When a verb precedes the logical subject, (a) after an an- 
ticipative it the verb is always singular; (b) after an 
introductory here or there the verb agrees with the logical 
subject. 

(a) Wrong.—It were only some mischievous boys. 

Right.—It was only some mischievous boys. 

(b) Wrong.—There was forty freshmen in the crowd. 

Right.—There were forty freshmen in the crowd. 

The agreement between verb and pronoun subject, and be¬ 
tween pronoun subject and antecedent should be main¬ 
tained consistently. (Compare section G253c.) 

Inconsistent.—True college spirit will never exist until the student 
body acts as a unit for the welfare of their alma mater. 

Consistent.—True college spirit will never exist until the student 
body, acts as a unit for the welfare of its alma mater. 

Consistent.—True college spirit will never exist until all members 
of the student body act as a unit for the welfare of their alma 
mater. 

Make the tense forms indicate precisely and consistently the 
actual or relative time of the action or state predicated by 
the verb. 

In the principal statement make the tense indicate the actual 
time of the action, observing particularly (a) that the 
past tense should be used to mark a definite time in the 
past, and (b) that the perfect tense should be used to 
mark a period of past time completed by the present. 

Time lacks definition.—Educated people ceased to believe in the 
power of witchcraft. 

Improved.—Long ago, educated people ceased to believe in the 
power of witchcraft. 

Improved.—To-day, educated people have ceased to believe in the 
power of witchcraft. 


91 


J72 


In a subordinate statement, reckon the tense from that of 
the verb in the principal statement. Though the so- 
called “sequence of tenses” is not absolute in English, 
still the following suggestions are usually applicable, 
(a) When the verb of the principal statement is in one 
of the past tenses (except the present perfect—“have 
heard,” “has seen,” etc.), the verb of the subordinate 
statement is also in some one of the past tenses—the 
past perfect (formed with had and the perfect participle) 
for action anterior to that of the principal verb; the past 
for action simultaneous with that of the principal verb, 
and the so-called “conditional” or “second future” 
(formed with should or would and the present infinitive) 
for action future to that of the principal verb, (b) 
When the verb of the principal statement is in the future 
tense, in some one of the present tenses, or, usually, in 
the present perfect, the tense of the verb in the sub¬ 
ordinate statement is not affected but indicates the 
actual time of the action, (c) In the expression of a 
truth valid at all times, the verb of the subordinate 
clause is usually in the present tense, even if the verb of 
the principal statement is in a past tense. 

(a) Example.—After the sun had risen high, the atmosphere 
became almost unendurably hot. 

Example.—Daylight showed clearly that some one had broken 
into the camp during the previous night and had taken practically 
everything of any use. The boys realized that they were wholly 
without supplies, that they did not have materials for even a single 
meal. Accordingly, after a brief consultation, it was determined 
that two should remain to guard the camp while the others went to 
the village for food. 

(b) Example.—It often happens that the men who have talked 
most emphatically about the need of co-operation later show the 
least willingness actually to co-operate. 

Example.—I have heard that although he was seriously wounded 
in the Argonne engagement he will not apply for compensation. 

(c) Example.—Like most other children, he had to learn through 
painful experience that fire burns and that green apples bring 
stomach ache. 

J73 The present infinitive and the present participle express 

action simultaneous with that of the principal verb; 
accordingly they should not be used to express action 
anterior or subsequent to that of the principal verb. 

Bad.—Neglecting the preparation of his daily recitations, he failed 
to obtain a satisfactory grade at the end of the term. 

Improved.—Having neglected the preparation of his daily recita¬ 
tions (or “Since he had neglected,” etc.), he failed to obtain a 
satisfactory grade at the end of the term. 

Bad.—He sprang to his feet, moving quickly toward the window. 
Improved.—He sprang to his feet and moved quickly toward the 
window. 

J74 The perfect infinitive and the perfect participle express 

action anterior to that of the principal'verb; accordingly 


92 


J75 


J80 

J81 


J82 


J83 


J84 

J85 


J86 


J87 


they should not be used to express action simultaneous 
with that of the principal verb. 

Bad.—I should have liked to have seen it. 

Improved.—I should have liked to see it. 

Improved.—I should like to have seen it. 

Keep consistent the tenses referring to the same time. 

Bad.—At that moment the excitement was intense. The delegates 
and spectators yell, whistle, stamp, throw their hats in the air, and 
otherwise act like baseball fans at a ninth inning rally. 

Improved. At that moment the excitement was intense. The 
delegates and spectators yelled, whistled, stamped, threw their 
hats in the air, and otherwise acted like baseball fans at a ninth 
inning rally. 

Distinguish carefully between the uses of shall and will. 

In simple statements, to express mere futurity use shall in 
the first person, will in the second and third. 

Example.—I shall be glad when I have finished this task. 
Example.—You will like him, I feel sure. 

Example.—He will be glad when he has finished that task. 

In simple statements, to express determination on the part 
of the speaker or to indicate his control over the actions 
of the subject use will in the first person, shall in the 
second and third. 

Example.—I will no longer endure such treatment. 

Example.—You shall endure it so long as you are under my control. 

In simple statements, use should and would similarly to shall 
and will. 

Example.—I should like very much to see him again. 

Example.—I would see him if I could. 

Example.—He would like very much to see you again. 

Example.—If he had not run away, he should pay for that speech. 

In questions that expect an answer, use shall or will accord¬ 
ing as shall or.will is expected in the answer. 

Example.—Shall you be able to come next month? I shall not. 
Example.—Will you help me? Of course I will. 

In conditional clauses introduced by if, etc., use should in all 
three persons to express futurity, and would only to em¬ 
phasize willingness or determination. 

Example.—If I should— 

If you should— 

If he should ask her permission, she would grant it. 
In indirect discourse, when the principal and the dependent 
clauses have different subjects use shall ( should ) and will 
(would) exactly as they should be used if the dependent 
verb were the principal verb in a simple statement. 
Example.—I trust that you will soon recover. 

Example.—I am determined that you shall do it. 

Example.—After making a thorough examination, the physician 
stated that I should be completely restored by a month’s rest. 

In indirect discourse, when both the principal and the de¬ 
pendent clauses have the same subject use shall ( should) 


93 


to express futurity, and will {would) to express deter¬ 
mination in all three persons. 

Example.—He fears that he shall fail. 

Example.—He has determined that he will fight it out to a finish. 
J90 A number of miscellaneous cautions may, for the sake of con¬ 

venience, be grouped in a single division. They are as 
follows: 

J91 Do not confound (a) transitive with intransitive or (b) 

weak (regular) with strong (irregular) verbs. Note par¬ 
ticularly lay, laid, laid, and lie, lay, lain; set, set, set, and 
sit, sat, sat; prove, proved, proved; dive, dived, dived . 
Example.—He laid (not lay) the book on the table. 

Example.—The book lay (not laid) on the table. 

Example.—He has proved (not proven) equal to his task. 

Example.—The boy dived (not dove) off the pier. 

J92 Do not confuse the past tense with the perfect participle of 

strong or irregular verbs, such as do, did, done; see, saw y 
seen; take, took, taken; drink, drank, drunk; come, came 
come; go, went, gone, etc. 

Example.—I drank (not drunk) too much strong coffee at dinner. 
Example.—After he had swum (not swam) a short distance, his 
strength failed. 

J93 Use the subjunctive mood to express a doubtful or unreal 

condition or wish. 

Wrong.—If I was in your place, I would not buy it now. 

Right.—If I were in your place, I would not buy it now. 

Wrong.—I wish that vacation was not past. 

Right.—I wish that vacation were not past. 

J94 Confine the so-called emphatic form of the verb (with do) to 

questions, negations, and emphatic statements. 

Bad.—When we were boys, we liked baseball so well that we did 
play it during every recess. 

Improved.—When we were boys, we liked baseball so well that we 
played it during every recess. 

J95 Do not misuse can and may for each other; use can to express 

ability, may to express permission or possibility. 

Example.—Unless we can convince the registrar that he is mis¬ 
taken, our registration may be cancelled. 

Example.—You may (not can) go now if you wish. 

K LETTERS 

K10 Both social and business letters normally have the following parts— 
(1) heading, (2) inside address, (3) greeting, (4) body, and (5) 
complimentary close. For each of these parts the conventional 
forms should be strictly observed. Further, usage is definite 
concerning (6) the outside address upon the envelope. 

Kll Usually the heading is placed near the upper right-hand corner 
of the first page of a letter. In personal letters, however, it 
may be placed at the left side of the last sheet, slightly 
lower than the signature. Except in a very intimate and 


\ 


94 


informal letter, the heading should give the complete postal 
direction of the writer and the date of writing. It should 
contain no abbreviations. The following illustrations show 
both the correct order of the items in the heading and the 
proper arrangements: 

Lindgren Hduse, Northwestern Campus 
Evanston, Illinois 
June 15, 1920 

5632 Woodlawn Avenue, 

Chicago, Illinois, 

October 27, 1919. 

K12 The inside address forms an essential part of a business letter, 
but is frequently omitted from a personal letter. In a busi¬ 
ness letter, it should begin at the left-hand margin somewhat 
lower than the heading. In a personal letter which has no 
heading or which has the heading placed as in a business 
letter (see section Kll), the inside address is usually placed 
at the left side of the last page slightly lower than the signa¬ 
ture. Though the street and number may be omitted from 
the inside address, this item is preferably included. In the 
‘ ‘closed’ ’ form of punctuation the last line is followed by a 
period and each of the preceding lines by a comma; in the 
“open” form no mark of punctuation is placed at the end 
of a line unless the line ends in an abbreviation. Either the 
“closed” or the “open” form is proper, but there must be 
no mixture of the two. The following illustrations all 
represent good use in the matter of the inside address: 
Professor Thomas F. Holgate 
University Hall 1, Northwestern Campus 
Evanston, Illinois 

Messrs. Ginn and Company 
2301 Prairie Avenue 
Chicago, Illinois 

Miss Alice Rinehart, 

Libertyville, Illinois. 

K13 The greeting begins at the left-hand margin. In a formal 
letter it is followed by a colon; in a familiar letter it is 
usually followed by a comma. The first word of the 
greeting has an initial capital; dear does not have a capital 
unless it. heads the greeting. In formal or business letters 
the following greetings are proper: 

Dear Sir: My dear Professor Martin: 

My dear Sir: Dear Madam: 

Gentlemen: Dear Mrs. Erickson: 

In familiar or personal letters the greeting is usually Dear 
or My dear followed by the form which the writer uses in 
conversation with the person to whom he is writing. Such 
greetings as “Friend Harry,” “Dear Friend,” and ‘*My dear 
Friend Ethel” are improprieties. The following illustrate 
proper greetings in familiar and personal letters: 

My dear Doctor Anderson: Dear Miss Alexander, 

Dear Mr. Brown, Dear Polly, 

Dear Hal, 


95 


In both business and personal letters, the greeting with my 
is more formal than that without it. 

K14 In the body of a letter, the normal principles of composition, 
including those of capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, 
sentence structure, etc., apply. The first and every suc¬ 
ceeding paragraph should be indented about an inch from 
the left-hand margin—the first paragraph no further than 
the others. A business letter should be courteous, clear, 
and concise. It should be direct and simple in phrasing and 
be free from stock expressions, abbreviations, and tele¬ 
graphic ellipses, such as “Your favor of the 13th inst. rec’d 
and contents noted. In reply beg to regret that I have 
already accepted a position,” etc. More effective and in 
much better taste is the following: “I have received your 
letter dated August 13. I regret that I have already ac¬ 
cepted a position,” etc. The conclusion should not always 
begin with a trite participial phrase, such as “Awaiting a 
reply, I am” etc.; “Thanking you in advance for your 
courtesy, we are” etc. Preferable are “I shall be grateful 
for an early reply”; “We shall appreciate your courtesy,” 
etc. The principal requisites of a familiar letter are the 
conveyance of the writer’s personality and the presentation 
of such material as will most interest the person to whom the 
letter is written. 

K15 The complimentary close is written on a separate line beginning 
near the middle of the page. Its first word begins with a 
capital, and it is followed by a comma. The close should 
harmonize in character with the greeting and the body of 
the letter. It should never contain abbreviations such as 
“Y’rs. truly,” nor should it be an abrupt “yours.” In 
business letters the following are proper, in the order in which 
they are arranged grading from the more formal to the more 
personal: 

Yours respectfully, Very truly yours, 

Yours truly, Yours sincerely, 

Yours very truly, 

In personal letters not extremely familiar the following are 
frequently used: 

Very truly yours, Faithfully yours, 

Sincerely yours, As always, yours, 

Cordially yours, 

K16 The outside address should occupy approximately the lower 
right quarter of the envelope. It should present the full 
postal direction, and should be written without abbrevia¬ 
tions. Either the “closed” or the “open” form of punctua¬ 
tion may be employed (see section K12). The following are 
proper forms for the outside address: 


96 


The W. P. Dunn Company 
725 South LaSalle Street 
Chicago 
Illinois 

Miss Emily Baker, 

In the care of Edward Beecher, Esq., 

1294'East Third Avenue, 

Richmond, Virginia. 

K20 The following illustrations show the proper form for business 
and for personal letters. 

K21 1928 Davis Street 

Evanston, Illinois 
March 1, 1920 

The Macmillan Company, 

New York City. 

Gentlemen: 

First paragraph of body. 

Second paragraph of body. 

Yours truly, 

Edwin Anderson. 

K22 Barrington, Illinois, 

July 18, 1919. 

Dear Aunt Rose, 

First paragraph of body. 

Second paragraph of body. 

Eagerly and affectionately yours, 

Polly. 

Mrs. William Esterbrook 
The Grove Park Inn 
Asheville, North Carolina 

L SPELLING 

English spelling is conventional and in a great many instances appar¬ 
ently arbitrary. But arbitrary conventions largely govern social inter¬ 
course, and the individual who ignores them or rebels against them does 
so usually to his own grief. As writing is an extremely important means of 
social intercourse, one should be very careful to spell in the conventionally 
accepted manner. Particularly should he be slow to adopt such faddish 
and unphonetic forms as thot and brot for thought and brought. If one is in 
any doubt as to the proper form of a word, he should consult a recent and 
reputable dictionary and use the form therein indicated as preferred. 

L10 Almost every rule for spelling in English has a number of excep¬ 
tions. The following statements and cautions, however, have 
been proved serviceable. 

Lll (a) If the vowel of the accented syllable has the so-called 

“short” sound, both words of more than one syllable that 
are accented on the last syllable and end in a single con¬ 
sonant preceded by a single vowel, and monosyllables that 
end in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel double 
the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel. 
* The doubled c is written ck. (b) In words of more than one 

syllable if the accent does not fall upon the last syllable 
or if it is shifted from the last syllable when a suffix is added, 
the final consonant is not doubled. 

97 


(a) Examples.—fit, fitting; drop, dropped; swim, swimmer; rot, rotten; 
hot, hotter, hottest; man, mannish; bag, baggage; fat, fatty; repel, 
repellent; acquit, acquittal; remit, remittance; traffic, trafficking; 
panic, panicky. 

(b) Examples.—travel, traveler; develop, developing, developer; 
benefit, benefited; suffer, sufferance; conquer, conqueror; prefer, pre¬ 
ferred, preferring, preferable, preference; infer, inferring, inference. 

(a) Words ending in silent e usually drop the e before a suffix 
that begins with a vowel, (b) But words ending in -ce or 
-ge do not drop the e before the suffixes - ous and -able. 

(a) Examples.—ride, rider, riding; love, lovable; endure, endurance, 
endurable. 

(b) Examples.—service, serviceable; advantage, advantageous. 
Words ending in y preceded by a consonant usually change y 

into i before any other suffix than -ing. 

Examples.—holy, holier, holiest; industry, industrious; carry, carried, 
carrier—carrying; busy, busier, business—busying. 

(a) In words having the sound ee spelled ei or ie, after c the 
order is ei, after all other consonants it is ie. (b) Excep¬ 
tions of more or less frequent occurrence are either, neither, 
seize, leisure, weird, obeisance, and financier. 

(a) Examples.—fierce, chief, believe, niece, piece, grieve, siege, wield, 
yield; receive, deceive, ceiling. 

A class of words for which particular caution is necessary but 
for which no brief rule can be formulated consists of words 
with suffixes very similar in sound and function but unlike 
in their written form. Some of these suffixes that cause 
especial difficulty are the following: -ite and -ate as in definite 
and accurate; -ible and -able as in forcible and capable; -eed 
and -ede as in proceed and precede; -ence and -ance as in 
existence and perseverance; -or and -er as in visitor and buyer; 
- ise and -ize as in surmise and recognize; and -tion and -sion 
as in exemption and extension. If one has difficulty in 
spelling such words as these properly, the dictionary is his 
only recourse. 


































































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